BALSims: a Spectral Synthesis Approach to Understanding Broad Absorption Line Quasar Outflows

天体物理学中一个长期存在的问题是了解星系在其一生中是如何形成和发展的。这样的理解对于揭示我们的宇宙是如何进化的，并深入了解我们银河系的起源是必要的。了解星系形成和演化的一个重要方面是研究星系中心的超大质量黑洞以及这些黑洞如何与宿主星系相互作用。观测证据表明黑洞和星系是一起演化的。这些证据包括黑洞质量和星系膨胀特性之间紧密的相关性，以及黑洞生长和恒星形成的相似历史。这一证据得到了理论论证的支持。处于活跃阶段的黑洞释放出的能量足以使宿主星系的凸起物脱离束缚，而处于非活跃阶段的黑洞应该出现在当今大多数星系的中心。因此，许多星系形成的模型都包含一个未指明的过程，即黑洞周围区域释放的一小部分能量有助于星系形成环境。这种相互作用通常被称为“反馈”，黑洞作用于宿主星系的机制仍然是一个谜。该项目使用一种新的光谱合成和统计方法来构建约束表征一种反馈类型的关键参数所需的工具。此外，项目活动将直接有助于训练青年科学家，包括大学生，掌握光谱和统计分析技术。PI将开发和教授一门课程，针对高级本科生和研究生，涉及机器学习和统计方法，其中一些将在本项目中使用。PI将把这项研究的结果通过参与公开大学的演讲者计划带给俄克拉荷马州的公民。本研究将限定类星体模式反馈的关键参数：SDSS宽吸收线类星体整体的动力学光度与热光度之比。此外，该研究计划在每个检查点都针对相关科学问题进行了精心的分阶段研究。这些包括反馈相互作用的位置和性质，对吸收线光谱诊断的搜索和评估，以及关键流出物物理参数的限制，包括柱密度、电离参数和覆盖分数。这个研究项目将产生对类星体流出的物理学的见解，以及对各种各样的研究人员有价值的关键参数的测量。这些人包括对在红外大声类星体中可能发生的持续相互作用感兴趣的科学家，使用光谱诊断从单个物体的光谱推断物理条件的数据分析师，以及需要观测约束来开发他们的磁风模型的理论家，以及为星系演化模型提供类星体模式反馈可行性评估。

A longstanding problem in astrophysics is to understand how galaxies form and develop throughout their lifetimes. Such understanding is necessary to uncover how our Universe evolved and to gain insight into the origin of our own Milky Way Galaxy. One important aspect of understanding galaxy formation and evolution is to study supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies and how these black holes interact with their host galaxies. Observational evidence suggests that black holes and galaxies evolve together. This evidence includes the tightness of the correlation between the black hole mass and galaxy bulge properties and the similar history of black hole growth and star formation. This evidence is supported by theoretical arguments. Black holes in their active phase emit more than enough energy to unbind the host galaxies' bulge, and in their non-active phase should be present in the centers of most present-day galaxies. As a consequence, many models for galaxy formation include a unspecified process by which a fraction of the energy released in the region surrounding the black hole contributes to the galaxy formation environment. This interaction is generically known as "feedback," and the mechanism by which the black hole acts on the host galaxy remains a mystery. This project uses a novel spectral synthesis and statistical approach to build the tools needed to constrain the key parameter characterizing one type of feedback.In addition, the project activities will directly contribute to the training of young scientists, including undergraduate students, in techniques of spectral and statistical analysis. The PI will develop and teach a course, directed toward advanced undergraduate and graduate students, on machine learning and statistical methods, some of which will be used in this project. The PI will bring the results of this research to the citizens of Oklahoma through participation in the OU speakers program.This research effort will constrain the key parameter characterizing quasar mode feedback: the ratio of the kinetic luminosity to bolometric luminosity, in the SDSS broad absorption line quasars as a whole. In addition, the carefully-phased research program addresses related scientific questions at each check point. These include the location and nature of feedback interactions, a search for and evaluation of absorption-line spectral diagnostics, and constraints of key outflow physical parameters, including column density, ionization parameter, and covering fraction.This research project will yield insights into the physics of quasar outflows, and measurements of key parameters that will be valuable to a wide variety of researchers. These include scientists who are interested in on-going interactions potentially occurring in infrared-loud quasars, data analysts who use spectral diagnostics to infer physical conditions from spectra of individual objects, and theorists who need observational constraints to develop their hydromagnetic wind models, as well as providing an assessment of the viability of quasar-mode feedback for galaxy evolution models.