Intermediate-Mass Black Holes in Galactic Nuclei and Starbursts

AST-0607498 RASIO这个项目是关于密集星团中心的黑洞的。首席调查员和他的团队将对导致此类黑洞形成和坍塌的过程进行详细的超级计算机模拟。将研究的两类主要动力学演化路径是：(I)年轻星团的快速收缩，导致普通恒星的失控碰撞和合并，并产生可能发生直接引力坍缩成黑洞的极大质量的残骸；(Ii)恒星黑洞致密系统的动力学演化，这些系统也可以合并在一起，并在质量上迅速增长，因为它们形成了紧密的黑洞双星，在引力辐射的能量损失的驱动下，完成了融合。这些计算方法将使研究从小星团到大原星系核的大范围系统的这些问题成为可能，并对所有重要的天体物理过程进行统一和现实的处理。为该项目开发的恒星动力学计算机代码是通用工具，将有助于研究许多其他涉及有或没有质量黑洞的致密星团的问题。一些新颖的算法和数值技术具有广泛的适用性。计划中的研究活动将涉及对西北大学的几名本科生进行培训，可能会包括来自代表性不足的少数族裔的学生。还计划开展外展活动，利用附近的芝加哥阿德勒天文馆和天文博物馆的资源。

AbstractAST - 0607498 RasioThis project is about the black holes at the center of dense star clusters. The Principal Investigator and his team will carry out detailed supercomputer simulations of the processes that lead to the formation and collapse of such black holes. The two main classes of dynamical evolution paths that will be studied are: (i) the rapid contraction of young star clusters, leading to runaway collisions and mergers of ordinary stars and the production of a very massive remnant that could undergo direct gravitational collapse to a black hole; and (ii) the dynamical evolution of dense systems of stellar black holes, which can also merge together and grow rapidly in mass, as they form tight black hole binaries driven to complete coalescence by the energy loss to gravitational radiation. The computational methods will make it possible to study these problems for a wide range of systems, from small star clusters all the way to large proto-galactic nuclei, with a unified and realistic treatment of all-important astrophysical processes.The stellar dynamics computer codes developed for this project are general tools, which will be useful for studying many other problems involving dense star clusters with or without massive black holes. Some of the novel algorithms and numerical techniques are of wide applicability. The planned research activities will involve the training of several undergraduate students at Northwestern University, and will likely include students from under-represented minorities. Outreach activities are also planned, taking advantage of the resources of the nearby Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum in Chicago.