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

科学家们面临的一个关键问题是星系——我们宇宙的基石——是如何组成的。他们必须了解星系的各种组成部分目前是如何物理组织的，以及它们是如何随时间变化的。这个提议试图理解最大质量星系的组合。科学家们正在调查附近100个最大的星系，以测量每个星系的详细化学成分和物理性质。他们将创建每个星系中恒星和气体位置的三维地图，它们是如何运动的，以及它们的成分是什么。恒星和气体的速度将进一步使科学家们能够测量这些星系中黑洞和暗物质中不可见质量的数量。所有这些信息的结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，一名PI正在指导有才华的高中生，让他们接触前沿科学研究。另一名PI通过“监狱教学倡议”（Prison Teaching Initiative）向新泽西州惩教所的囚犯授课，为服刑不足的少数族裔提供基本的数学和科学培训。这一建议旨在阐明大质量星系的聚集历史。为了实现这一目标，提议者将研究：(1)大质量星系与其黑洞的关系以及可能的黑洞反馈；(2)恒星居群特性，特别是大质量星系中初始质量函数的分布。研究这两个问题的一个可靠方法是通过恒星动力学质量模型。现有的宽格式和亚弧弧积分场光谱仪的均匀运动学测量将用于模拟星系的所有黑暗成分：它们的中心黑洞，暗物质晕和低质量恒星。更多的多波长数据集将用于研究星系的轮廓及其分子气体、热气体和中央黑洞的吸积。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.