Collaborative Research: The multi-scale physics of massive black hole formation, fueling, and feedback

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This project will create a Theoretical and Computational Astrophysics Network with major nodes at the University of Maryland, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Yale University to advance the theory of formation, fueling, and feedback of supermassive black holes (SMBHs). The project proposes to accomplish this task by linking computational codes simulating large-scale SMBH phenomena (i.e. cosmological gravitational collapse and AGN jets) to the small-scale phenomena (i.e. SMBH formation and feedback on galactic structure). For the "formation stage", the project intends to answer the question of how the first black hole (BH) seeds formed within the early universe by numerically simulating the coupling of large-scale baryonic structures and dark-matter halos to small-scale collapse of primordial gas disks into massive BH seeds. For the "fueling stage" the project aims to explore the growth of the BH seed into a SMBH from galaxy-scale accretion flows to SMBH mergers. Finally, for the "feedback stage" the goal is to explore the mechanisms by which the SMBHs at the centers of active galactic nuclei (AGN) couple to the inter-cluster plasma on cosmological scales. The network will contribute to scientific workforce development through the involvement of undergraduate students, graduate students and postdocs. The project will communicate results to the public through development of a 3-D visualization taking the viewer on a journey to witness the birth and growth of a SMBH and its influence on the cosmological environment.