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

该项目将建立一个由马里兰大学、佐治亚理工学院和耶鲁大学的主要节点组成的理论和计算天体物理学网络，以促进超大质量黑洞(SMBH)的形成、燃料和反馈理论的发展。该项目建议通过将模拟大尺度SMBH现象(即宇宙引力坍塌和活动星系核喷流)的计算代码与小尺度现象(即SMBH形成和对星系结构的反馈)联系起来来完成这项任务。对于“形成阶段”，该项目打算通过数值模拟大尺度重子结构和暗物质晕耦合到原始气体盘小范围崩塌成大质量黑洞种子来回答第一个黑洞(BH)种子是如何在早期宇宙中形成的问题。对于“燃料阶段”，该项目旨在探索从星系规模的吸积流到SMBH合并，BH种子成长为SMBH的过程。最后，对于“反馈阶段”，目标是探索活动星系核(AGN)中心的SMBH与宇宙尺度上的星系团间等离子体耦合的机制。该网络将通过本科生、研究生和博士后的参与，促进劳动力的科学发展。该项目将通过开发3-D可视化技术将结果传达给公众，带着观众踏上见证SMBH的诞生和成长及其对宇宙环境的影响的旅程。

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.