Black holes in barred galaxies: the Rosetta Stones of secular galaxy evolution

多年来，研究表明，星系中超大质量黑洞的大小与星系本身的大小有关，这也许并不奇怪，但也与星系的外观（“类型”）有关。 然而，黑洞的质量通常是通过研究星系中恒星的运动来计算的，最近的工作表明，星系中存在一个酒吧会导致恒星速度的显着扰动，这还没有考虑在内。 这导致了一种偏差，高估了质量，并可能掩盖星系类型的影响。 该奖项支持开发一种不受此问题影响的新数值方法。 通过与其他方法的比较和仔细检查，将为今后更好地理解星系与其中心黑洞的共同演化奠定基础。本项目将努力纠正这一混淆因素，以理解黑洞（BH）和星系的共同演化如何取决于宿主星系的形态类型。 最近的研究表明，棒的独特轨道结构使视线速度剖面发生了显着变化，但尽管近60%的螺旋星系与现有的动态BH质量测量包含酒吧，所有这些估计都是使用轴对称模型，不考虑酒吧。 由此产生的系统性高估偏差可以掩盖对宿主星系形态的依赖性。 这项研究将（a）开发第一个能够精确确定棒星系BH质量的恒星动力学轨道叠加代码;（B）运行棒的高分辨率自洽N体模拟并生成模拟运动学数据集以验证新代码;（c）改进几个棒星系BH质量的测量;和（d）获得第一个恒星动力学BH质量测量的两个邻近星系的独立混响映射（RM）的估计。 建立一个新的代码是至关重要的，因为：（1）预测的高估是可比的散射，从而可以掩盖BH增长机制的真正差异;（2）使用恒星动力学来确认RM BH估计是很重要的未来高红移估计，只有RM是可能的;以及（3）特定星系的准确BH质量对于模拟X射线发射气体的吸积物理至关重要。这个多方面的项目，涉及N体模拟，代码开发和真实的数据建模将为研究生提供成功职业所需的广泛而强大的技术技能。 其他活动将通过大学的教育学院为未来的小学教师提供强大的STEM（科学，技术，工程，数学）基础，通过新开发的课程让非科学专业的本科生参与进来，并利用夏令营激励高中生在大学里追求STEM学科。

Studies have been showing for some years that the size of a supermassive black hole in a galaxy is correlated with the size of the galaxy itself, perhaps unsurprisingly, but also with the appearance (the 'type') of the galaxy. However, the black hole mass is normally calculated by studying the motions of stars in the galaxy, and recent work suggests that the presence of a bar in the galaxy causes a significant perturbation in the stellar speeds, which has not been taken into account. This leads to a bias that over-estimates the mass and can hide the effect of galaxy type. This award supports development of a new numerical method that does not suffer from this problem. Comparison with other methods and careful checks throughout the work will lay the foundations for future better understanding of the co-evolution of galaxies and their central black holes.This project will work to correct this confounding factor in understanding how the co-evolution of black holes (BH) and galaxies depends upon the host galaxy's morphological type. Recent studies show that the unique orbital structure of a bar makes significant changes in line-of-sight velocity profiles, but although nearly 60% of spiral galaxies with existing dynamical BH mass measurements contain bars, all of those estimates were derived using axisymmetric models that do not account for the bar. The resultant systematic over-estimation bias can mask dependencies on host galaxy morphology. This study will (a) develop the first stellar dynamical orbit superposition code capable of accurately determining BH masses in barred disk galaxies; (b) run high resolution self-consistent N-body simulations of bars and generate mock kinematic datasets for validating the new code; (c) improve the BH mass measurements in several barred galaxies; and (d) obtain the first stellar dynamical BH mass measurements for two nearby galaxies with independent reverberation mapping (RM) estimates. Building a new code is crucial because: (1) the predicted over-estimate is comparable to the scatter and thus can mask genuine differences in BH growth mechanisms; (2) using stellar dynamics to confirm RM BH estimates is important for future high redshift estimates where only RM is possible; and (3) accurate BH masses for specific galaxies are critical for modeling the accretion physics of X-ray emitting gas.This multi-faceted project, involving N-body simulations, code development, and the modeling of real data, will give the graduate student involved the broad and strong technical skills necessary for a successful career. Other activities will provide future elementary school teachers with strong STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) foundations through the university's school of education, involve non-science major undergraduates through a newly-developed course, and use a summer camp to inspire high school students to pursue STEM disciplines in college.