Intermediate-Mass Black Holes in Galactic Nuclei and Starbursts

星系核和星暴中的中等质量黑洞

• 批准号: 0607498
• 负责人: Frederic Rasio
• 金额: $ 36.46万
• 依托单位: Northwestern University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-06-01 至 2010-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0607498&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Intermediate; Mass; Black; Holes; Galactic

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.

AST- 0607498 Rasio这个项目是关于密集星星团中心的黑洞的。首席研究员和他的团队将对导致这种黑洞形成和坍塌的过程进行详细的超级计算机模拟。将研究的两大类动力学演化路径是：（一）年轻星星团的迅速收缩，导致普通恒星的失控碰撞和合并，并产生一个非常巨大的残余物，可能会经历直接的引力坍缩成为一个黑洞;和（ii）恒星黑洞的致密系统的动力学演化，这些黑洞也可以合并在一起并迅速增加质量，因为它们形成紧密的黑洞双星，由于引力辐射的能量损失而完全合并。这些计算方法将使研究从小的星星团一直到大的原星系核的广泛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。为这个项目开发的恒星动力学计算机代码是通用工具，这将有助于研究涉及有或没有大质量黑洞的密集星星团的许多其他问题。一些新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在西北大学培训几名本科生，并可能包括代表性不足的少数民族的学生。还计划利用附近芝加哥阿德勒天文馆和天文博物馆的资源开展外联活动。