Red Quasars and Quasar/Galaxy Evolution

红色类星体和类星体/星系演化

• 批准号: 1911066
• 负责人: Frederick Hamann
• 金额: $ 79.1万
• 依托单位: University of California-Riverside
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-07-01 至 2023-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1911066&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Red; Quasars; Quasar; Galaxy; Evolution

Part 1Quasars are mysterious astronomical objects. They are brighter than 100 billion stars like our Sun, but so far away that they appear very faint in our nighttime sky. We study them with large telescopes, like the ones at the Keck Observatory on the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Measurements like that show that quasars are very massive black holes surrounded by hot gas that is being pulled into the black hole by the hole's enormous gravity. The gas falling into the black hole goes faster and faster the closer it gets. This produces extreme heat that makes the gas around the black hole glow brighter than an entire galaxy full of stars. The black hole surrounded by bright glowing gas is what we call a quasar. They live in the centers of all large galaxies like our Milky Way, but only at certain early times in a galaxy's life when there is a lot of gas available to fall into the black hole. Some of the gas trying to fall into the black hole is, instead, ejected at high speeds due to the intense heat and radiation. This produces a powerful wind that spreads across the galaxy. This project will study a particular group of quasars that appear to be very young and very bright, with extremely powerful winds that might alter the growth and development of the galaxies around them. Project goals are to understand how the powerful winds from quasars are created, and then study the effects those winds have on the surrounding galaxies. Another important goal is to turn the data obtained for this project into music that will be used for science education and outreach in our local communities. Part 2Quasars are distant signposts that mark important episodes in the growth and development of large galaxies. Quasars produce the light energy of a 100 billion Suns due to matter heating up as it falls into a massive black hole. They deep inside young galaxies that are, themselves, gaining mass from their surroundings and rapidly making stars. Quasars with red colors caused by dust obscuration (similar to red sunsets) are believed to identify a critical transition phase in galaxy formation between the initial dusty "burst" of star formation and the eventual emergence of normal blue (unobscured) quasars. Powerful outflows driven by the quasars and/or the accompanying starbursts are thought to be critically important during this transition phase, providing "feedback" to the surroundings that regulates the amounts of black hole accretion, disrupts star formation in the surrounding galaxy, and expels much of the host galaxy's gas and dust. This project describes a 3-year program to 1) study red quasars and quasar outflows/feedback to test the evolutionary links between quasars and galaxy formation, and 2) pursue an exciting new avenue of public outreach based on the sonification of astronomical data.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.

类星体是一种神秘的天体。它们比像太阳这样的1000亿颗恒星还要亮，但它们离我们太远，在我们的夜空中显得非常微弱。我们用大型望远镜研究它们，比如夏威夷莫纳克亚山顶的凯克天文台。像这样的测量表明，类星体是非常大的黑洞，被热气体包围，这些气体被黑洞巨大的引力拉入黑洞。落入黑洞的气体越靠近黑洞，速度就越快。这产生了极端的热量，使得黑洞周围的气体比充满恒星的整个星系更亮。被明亮的发光气体包围的黑洞就是我们所说的类星体。它们存在于所有大型星系的中心，比如我们的银河系，但只存在于星系生命的某个早期阶段，那时有大量的气体可以落入黑洞。由于强烈的热和辐射，一些试图落入黑洞的气体反而以高速喷射出来。这产生了一股强大的风，在整个星系中传播。这个项目将研究一组特别的类星体，它们看起来非常年轻，非常明亮，有着可能改变周围星系生长和发展的极其强大的风。该项目的目标是了解来自类星体的强大风是如何产生的，然后研究这些风对周围星系的影响。另一个重要的目标是将这个项目获得的数据转化为音乐，用于我们当地社区的科学教育和推广。类星体是遥远的路标，标志着大型星系成长和发展的重要时期。类星体产生的光能相当于1000亿个太阳，这是由于物质落入一个巨大的黑洞时被加热造成的。它们位于年轻星系的深处，这些星系本身正在从周围环境中获得质量，并迅速形成恒星。由尘埃遮挡（类似于红色的日落）引起的红色类星体被认为是星系形成过程中一个关键的过渡阶段，介于恒星形成的初始尘埃“爆发”和最终出现正常的蓝色（未遮挡）类星体之间。在这个过渡阶段，由类星体和/或伴随的恒星爆发驱动的强大外流被认为是至关重要的，它们向周围环境提供“反馈”，调节黑洞吸积的数量，破坏周围星系的恒星形成，并排出宿主星系的大部分气体和尘埃。这个项目描述了一个为期3年的计划：1)研究红色类星体和类星体的流出/反馈，以测试类星体和星系形成之间的进化联系；2)基于天文数据的声音化，寻求一条令人兴奋的公众宣传新途径。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。