Probing the Central Engine of Active Galactic Nuclei

AST-0604066彼得森这个项目将探索活动星系核的内部结构。 它将（a）测量中心黑洞的质量，（B）确定宽发射线区域的结构和运动学。 这将是一个积极的90夜混响映射程序，旨在恢复高保真速度延迟地图的宽线区域在6至8个明亮的塞弗特1星系。 一个补充程序的分光偏振将被用作一个独立的探针的宽线区域的结构。 这项研究将导致更好地了解的不确定性测量黑洞质量的混响技术，并了解吸积流超大质量黑洞。 通过混响成功恢复速度延迟图将提供有史以来对宽发射线区域的结构和运动学的最强约束，并可能导致独特的解决方案。 即使这一目标没有实现，这些观测肯定会改善对几个黑洞质量目前知之甚少的来源的测量。 该项目通过混响计划（英国、乌克兰和日本）、宿主星系速度色散计划（德国和加拿大）和分光偏振计划（英国和智利）促进国际合作。 混响计划展示了较小的望远镜如何仍然可以进行高影响力的科学研究。

AST-0604066PetersonThis project will explore the very inner structure of active galactic nuclei. It will (a) measure the masses of the central black holes and (b) determine the structure and kinematics of the broad emission-line region. This will be accomplished with an aggressive 90-night reverberation-mapping program designed to recover high-fidelity velocity-delay maps of the broad-line region in 6 to 8 bright Seyfert 1 galaxies. A complementary program of spectropolarimetry will be used as an independent probe of the broad-line region structure. This study will lead to a better understanding of the uncertainties in measurement of black hole masses by reverberation techniques, and to an understanding of accretion flows around super-massive black holes. Successful recovery of a velocity-delay map via reverberation will provide the strongest constraints ever on the structure and kinematics of the broad emission-line region, and could lead to a unique solution. Even if that ambition is not realized, these observations will certainly improve the measurements in several sources whose black hole masses are now poorly known.Several graduate students at multiple institutions will be trained as observers. The project fosters international collaboration through the reverberation program (United Kingdom, Ukraine, and Japan), the host galaxy velocity-dispersion program (Germany and Canada), and the spectropolarimetry program (United Kingdom and Chile). The reverberation program shows how smaller telescopes can still perform high impact science.