Collaborative Research: Of Mice and Monsters -- Investigating the Growth of Black Holes in Dwarf Galaxies

几乎每个大星系似乎都有一个超大质量的黑洞。黑洞的质量与宿主星系的几个性质有关。然而，对于质量较低的星系，这些关系并不像质量较大的星系那样牢固。这个项目将模拟低质量星系及其黑洞在宇宙年龄内同时增长的过程，以更好地理解大质量黑洞与其所在的低质量星系性质之间关系的物理原因。这个项目还将涉及社区大学的本科生。拟议的项目旨在以系统的方式模拟矮小星系中超大质量黑洞(SMBH)的增长，以确定SMBH/星系关联的物理起源。该项目将使用他们在ROMULUS25宇宙学模拟中使用的代码Changa。该团队将从这一模拟中提取感兴趣的单个矮星系，并对该星系的演化进行放大模拟。他们将使用一种名为“基因改造”的技术，在不显著改变当地宇宙学环境的情况下，对目标星系的初始条件进行系统的微小变化。该项目完成后，将确定导致矮小星系SMBH/星系关联的关键物理过程。该项目还将支持和指导这两个机构的第一代本科生的研究。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Nearly every large galaxy seems to host a supermassive black hole. The mass of the black hole is related to several properties of the host galaxy. However, for lower mass galaxies, these relationships are not as strong as they are for the more massive galaxies. This project will simulate the growth of both low mass galaxies and their black holes simultaneously over the age of the universe to better understand the physical reasons for the relationship between the massive black hole and the properties of the low mass galaxy that hosts it. This project will also involve undergraduate students at a community college.The proposed project intends to model the growth of supermassive black holes (SMBH) in dwarf galaxies in a systematic way to identify the physical origins of the SMBH/galaxy correlations. The project will use their code CHANGA that was used in the ROMULUS25 cosmological simulations. The team will extract individual dwarf galaxies of interest from this simulation and do "zoom-in" simulations of the galaxy evolution. They will use a technique call "genetic modification" that will allow for systematic small variations in the initial conditions of the targeted galaxy without dramatically changing the local cosmological environment. When completed the project will identify the key physical processes that lead to the SMBH/galaxy correlations for dwarf galaxies. The project will also support and mentor first-generation undergraduates in research at both institutions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.