Kinematic Signatures of Black Hole Growth in the Local Universe

该计划的目标是确定星系中心的超大质量黑洞增长与它们所在星系的一般演化之间的关系。这项工作将包括对这一主题的多学科方法，包括对观测数据和星系模拟进行连贯分析，以提供对推动局部宇宙中黑洞增长的机制的第一个重大约束。将在南北半球的世界领先的近红外望远镜上对赛弗特星系和非活动星系的匹配样本进行高空间分辨率的积分场光谱观测。在这两个子样本中，许多性质将被研究到微秒级，以确定哪些是塞弗特星系独有的，因此很可能与黑洞的增长有关。这些包括星际介质的分布、运动学和质量，核星盘的存在，以及这些恒星群与核星际介质的关系。更广泛的影响包括教师培训和参加华盛顿大学天文学预科项目(Pre-MAP)。该项目招收来自传统上在科学领域代表性较低的群体的新生，并通过允许他们在丰富和支持的环境中探索该领域来促进天文学作为本科专业的学习。

The goal of this program is to determine the relationship between supermassive black hole growth in the centers of galaxies, and the general evolution of the galaxies in which they reside. The work will comprise a multi-disciplinary approach to this topic involving a cohesive analysis of observational data and galaxy simulations to provide the first significant constraints on the mechanisms driving black hole growth in the local universe. High spatial resolution integral field spectroscopic observations of a matched sample of Seyfert and inactive galaxies will be obtained on the world's leading near-infrared telescopes in both the northern and southern hemispheres. A number of properties will be examined down to parsec scales in the two subsamples to identify those that are unique to Seyfert galaxies and are thus likely to be associated with black hole growth. These include the distribution, kinematics, and mass of the interstellar medium, the presence of a nuclear stellar disk, and how this stellar population relates to the nuclear interstellar medium.Broader impacts include teacher training and participation in the University of Washington Pre-Major in Astronomy Program (Pre-MAP). This program recruits incoming students from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in science and promotes astronomy as an undergraduate major by allowing them to explore the field in an enriching and supportive environment.