Collaborative Research: From Dark Matter Halos to Supermassive Black Holes in the Most Massive Galaxies

对于科学家来说，一个关键问题是星系--我们宇宙的基石--是如何组装起来的。他们必须了解星系的各个组成部分目前是如何物理组织的，以及它们是如何随着时间的推移而变化的。这一提议试图理解最大质量星系的聚集。科学家们正在调查附近100个质量最大的星系，以测量每个星系内详细的化学成分和物理性质。他们将创建恒星和气体在每个星系中的位置、它们如何运动以及它们的组成的三维地图。恒星和气体的速度将进一步使科学家能够测量黑洞中不可见的质量和这些星系中的暗物质的数量。所有这些信息的组合为星系何时开始形成以及它们如何随时间变化提供了重要线索。此外，One PI还指导有才华的高中生，让他们接触尖端科学研究。另一个少年派通过监狱教学计划在新泽西州立惩教机构教授囚犯，为服刑不足的被监禁的少数民族提供基本的数学和科学培训。这项提议旨在阐明大质量星系的集合史。为了实现这一目标，提出者将研究(1)大质量星系及其黑洞的关系和可能的黑洞反馈；(2)恒星群性质，特别是最大质量星系之间的初始质量函数的扩散。研究这两个问题的可靠方法是通过恒星动力学质量模型。现有的宽格式和亚角秒积分场光谱仪的统一运动学测量将被用来模拟星系的所有暗成分：它们的中央黑洞、暗物质晕和低质量恒星。更多广泛的多波长数据将被用来研究星系轮廓及其分子气体、热气体和对中央黑洞的吸积。这一奖项反映了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。

A key question for scientists is how galaxies - the building blocks of our Universe - were assembled. They must understand both how the various components of galaxies are physically organized currently, and how they have changed over time. This proposal seeks to understand the assembly of the most massive galaxies. The scientists are surveying the 100 most massive nearby galaxies to measure the detailed chemical composition and physical properties within each galaxy. They will create three-dimensional maps of the locations of stars and gas in each galaxy, how they are moving, and what their composition is. The velocities of the stars and gas will further enable the scientists to measure the amounts of invisible mass in black holes and dark matter in these galaxies. The combination of all this information provides important clues to when the galaxies started to form and how they changed over time. In addition, one PI is mentoring talented high school students and exposing them to cutting-edge science research. The other PI teaches inmates in New Jersey State Correctional Facilities through the Prison Teaching Initiative, providing basic math and science training to underserved incarcerated minorities.This proposal seeks to elucidate the assembly history of massive galaxies. To achieve this goal, the proposers will investigate (1) the relationship of massive galaxies and their black holes and the possible black hole feedback; and (2) the stellar population properties, in particular the spread in initial mass function among the most massive galaxies. A robust way to study both questions is through stellar dynamical mass modeling. Existing uniform kinematics measurements from wide-format and sub-arcsec integral-field spectrographs will be used to model all of the dark components of the galaxies: their central black holes, dark matter halos, and low-mass stars. Additional extensive sets of multi-wavelength data will be used to study the galaxy profiles and their molecular gas, hot gas, and accretion onto the central black holes.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.