Red Quasars and Quasar/Galaxy Evolution

类星体是神秘的天体。它们比我们的太阳这样的1000亿颗恒星还亮，但它们离我们太远了，以至于它们在我们的夜间天空中显得非常微弱。我们用大型望远镜研究它们，就像夏威夷莫纳克亚山顶上凯克天文台的望远镜一样。这样的测量表明，类星体是非常大的黑洞，周围被热气体包围，热气体正被黑洞的巨大引力拉入黑洞。落入黑洞的气体越靠近黑洞，速度就越快。这会产生极高的热量，使黑洞周围的气体发出比整个充满恒星的星系更亮的光。被明亮发光气体包围的黑洞就是我们所说的类星体。它们生活在像我们的银河系这样的所有大型星系的中心，但只有在星系生命的某些早期阶段，有大量可供落入黑洞的气体时才会出现。相反，由于高温和辐射，一些试图坠入黑洞的气体被高速喷射出来。这产生了一股席卷整个银河系的强风。这个项目将研究一组特殊的类星体，它们看起来非常年轻，非常明亮，具有极强的风力，可能会改变它们周围星系的生长和发展。该项目的目标是了解类星体产生的强风是如何产生的，然后研究这些风对周围星系的影响。另一个重要目标是将为该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。第二部分类星体是遥远的路标，标志着大星系生长和发展的重要时刻。类星体产生的光能相当于1000亿个太阳的光能，这是因为物质在落入大质量黑洞时被加热。它们深入年轻的星系内部，这些星系本身就在从周围获得质量，并迅速形成恒星。由尘埃遮挡(类似于红色日落)导致的红色类星体被认为是星系形成过程中的一个关键过渡阶段，介于恒星形成的初始尘埃“爆发”和正常蓝色(未遮挡)类星体的最终出现之间。由类星体和/或伴随的恒星爆发驱动的强大外流被认为在这一过渡阶段至关重要，它为周围环境提供“反馈”，调节黑洞的吸积量，扰乱周围星系的恒星形成，并驱逐大部分宿主星系的气体和尘埃。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外流/反馈，以测试类星体和星系形成之间的进化联系；2)基于天文数据的可听化，寻求一种令人兴奋的公共宣传新途径。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。

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.