WoU-MMA: Multi-messenger Titans: Probing The Dynamics & Environments Of Supermassive Binary Black Holes

WoU-MMA：多信使泰坦：探索动态

• 批准号: 2007993
• 负责人: Stephen Taylor
• 金额: $ 52.39万
• 依托单位: Vanderbilt University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2007993&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: WoU; MMA; Multi; messenger; Titans

It is now known that nearly every galaxy contains at its center, a supermassive black hole, with a mass millions to billions of times greater than the mass of the Sun. If a supermassive black hole is in a dense environment, it can be detected by the light emitted by gas and dust falling into it. Such an object is called an active galactic nucleus (AGN). It is also known that some of these titanic objects exist in pairs, called supermassive binary black holes (SMBBHs), which are expected to eventually spiral into each other and collide, producing ripples in spacetime, or gravitational waves (GWs). These GWs cause tiny variations in the timing of rapidly spinning compact former stars called pulsars. By measuring these timing variations using multiple radio telescopes in what is called a pulsar timing array (PTA), astronomers expect to infer the existence of such GWs. A research team at Vanderbilt University will perform the first end-to-end coherent multi-messenger (MM) search for SMBBHs using the synthesis of precision pulsar timing array data with optical observations of the time-varying brightness and spectra of AGN. The methods resulting from the project will forecast the expected properties of the first MM binary detection in the 2020s, including the likely binary environment and host galaxy characteristics. The investigators will also establish a Vanderbilt node of Student Teams of Astrophysics ResarcherS (STARS), a highly successful national program established by the NANOGrav PTA team. The work will involve undergraduate students from Vanderbilt and Fisk (a nearby historically black university), who will be directly involved in pulsar and gravitational-wave research. This project will forge a path to the unambiguous identification of SMBBHs at sub-parsec separations, helping to resolve the perplexing enigma of this heretofore missing population. While dual AGN have been observed at separations from kiloparsecs down to seven parsecs, there are no unambiguously identified SMBBHs at sub-parsec separations. Some candidate sub-parsec pairs have been identified as quasi-periodic optical-flux or radial-velocity variations in AGN, but this is severely hampered by intrinsic disk and environmental noise processes that can mimic periodic behavior over short baselines. Only PTA data can directly infer the presence of SMBBHs through detection of their ~nanohertz-frequency GWs. By combining PTA GW searches with large photometric and spectroscopic surveys, this project will leverage the strength of multiple messengers to arbitrate existing candidates, forecast the expected properties and constraints on the first MM binary detection, and fuse the information provided by different messengers into a complete portrait of SMBBH dynamics at sub-parsec separations. This proposal represents a dramatic leap forward in understanding how EM signatures of SMBBHs track the GW signal. This project advances the goals of the NSF Windows on the Universe Big Idea.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.

现在我们知道，几乎每个星系的中心都有一个超大质量黑洞，其质量是太阳质量的数百万到数十亿倍。如果一个超大质量黑洞处于一个密集的环境中，它可以通过落入其中的气体和尘埃发出的光来探测。这样的天体被称为活动星系核（AGN）。众所周知，这些巨大的物体中有一些是成对存在的，被称为超大质量双黑洞（SMBBHs），预计它们最终会螺旋状地相互碰撞，在时空中产生涟漪，或引力波（GWs）。这些GWs会导致快速旋转的致密前恒星脉冲星的时间发生微小变化。通过使用多台射电望远镜测量这些时间变化，即所谓的脉冲星计时阵列（PTA），天文学家希望推断出这种GWs的存在。范德比尔特大学的一个研究小组将对smbbh进行首次端到端相干多信使（MM）搜索，使用精确脉冲星定时阵列数据的合成以及AGN时变亮度和光谱的光学观测。该项目产生的方法将预测本世纪20年代首次MM双星探测的预期特性，包括可能的双星环境和宿主星系特征。研究人员还将建立范德比尔特天体物理学研究人员学生团队（STARS）节点，这是nanogravity PTA团队建立的一个非常成功的国家项目。这项工作将涉及范德比尔特和菲斯克大学（附近一所历史悠久的黑人大学）的本科生，他们将直接参与脉冲星和引力波的研究。该项目将为在亚秒差距处明确识别smbbh开辟一条道路，帮助解决这一迄今为止失踪人口的令人困惑的谜团。虽然在千秒差距到7秒差距的距离上观测到了双AGN，但在次秒差距的距离上没有明确确定的smbbh。一些候选的亚秒差距对已经被确定为AGN中的准周期光通量或径向速度变化，但这受到内在磁盘和环境噪声过程的严重阻碍，这些过程可以在短基线上模拟周期行为。只有PTA数据可以通过检测其~纳赫兹频率的GWs直接推断SMBBHs的存在。通过将PTA GW搜索与大型光度和光谱调查相结合，该项目将利用多个信使的力量来确定现有的候选对象，预测首次MM二元探测的预期性质和限制，并将不同信使提供的信息融合成亚秒差距SMBBH动力学的完整画像。这一提议在理解smbbh的电磁信号如何跟踪GW信号方面取得了巨大的飞跃。这个项目推进了NSF宇宙大构想窗口的目标。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。

项目成果

The X-ray view of optically selected dual AGN

• DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stac3664
• 发表时间: 2022-12
• 期刊: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• 影响因子: 4.8
• 作者: A. De Rosa;C. Vignali;P. Severgnini;S. Bianchi;Tamara Bogdanović;M. Charisi;M. Guainazzi;Z. Haiman;S. Komossa;Z. Paragi;M. Pérez-Torres;E. Piconcelli;L. Ducci;M. Parvatikar;R. Serafinelli

Quality over quantity: Optimizing pulsar timing array analysis for stochastic and continuous gravitational wave signals

质量重于数量：优化随机和连续引力波信号的脉冲星定时阵列分析

• DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stac3237
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• 影响因子: 4.8
• 作者: Speri, Lorenzo;Porayko, Nataliya K.;Falxa, Mikel;Chen, Siyuan;Gair, Jonathan R.;Sesana, Alberto;Taylor, Stephen R.
• 通讯作者: Taylor, Stephen R.

The NANOGrav 12.5 yr Data Set: Bayesian Limits on Gravitational Waves from Individual Supermassive Black Hole Binaries

• DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/acdbc7
• 发表时间: 2023-01
• 期刊: The Astrophysical Journal Letters
• 作者: Z. Arzoumanian;P. Baker;L. Blecha;H. Blumer;A. Brazier;P. Brook;S. Burke-Spolaor;B. Bécsy;J. A. Casey-Clyde;M. Charisi;S. Chatterjee;Siyuan Chen;J. Cordes;N. Cornish;F. Crawford;H. Cromartie;M. DeCesar;P. Demorest;T. Dolch;B. Drachler;J. Ellis;E. Ferrara;W. Fiore;E. Fonseca;G. Freedman;N. Garver-Daniels;P. Gentile;J. Glaser;D. Good;K. Gültekin;J. Hazboun;R. Jennings;A. Johnson;Megan L. Jones;A. Kaiser;D. Kaplan;L. Kelley;J. Key;N. Laal;M. Lam;W. Lamb;T. Joseph W. Lazio;N. Lewandowska;Tingting Liu;D. Lorimer;Jing Luo;R. Lynch;D. Madison;A. McEwen;M. Mclaughlin;C. Mingarelli;C. Ng;D. Nice;S. Ocker;K. Olum;T. Pennucci;N. Pol;S. Ransom;P. Ray;J. Romano;B. Shapiro-Albert;X. Siemens;J. Simon;M. Siwek;R. Spiewak;I. Stairs;D. Stinebring;K. Stovall;J. Swiggum;J. Sydnor;S. Taylor;J. E. Turner;M. Vallisneri;S. Vigeland;H. Wahl;G. Walsh;C. Witt;O. Young

Astrophysics with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna

• DOI: 10.1007/s41114-022-00041-y
• 发表时间: 2022-03
• 期刊: Living Reviews in Relativity
• 影响因子: 40.6
• 作者: P. A. Seoane;J. Andrews;M. A. Sedda;A. Askar;Quentin Baghi;R. Balasov;I. Bartos;S. Bavera

The NANOGrav 15 yr Data Set: Bayesian Limits on Gravitational Waves from Individual Supermassive Black Hole Binaries

• DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ace18a
• 发表时间: 2023-06
• 期刊: The Astrophysical Journal Letters
• 作者: G. Agazie;A. Anumarlapudi;A. Archibald;Z. Arzoumanian;P. Baker;B. B'ecsy;L. Blecha;A. Brazier;P. Brook;S. Burke-Spolaor;R. Case;J. A. Casey-Clyde;M. Charisi;S. Chatterjee;T. Cohen;J. Cordes;N. Cornish;F. Crawford;H. Cromartie;K. Crowter;M. DeCesar;P. Demorest;Matthew C. Digman;T. Dolch;B. Drachler;E. Ferrara;W. Fiore;E. Fonseca;Gabriel Freedman;N. Garver-Daniels;P. Gentile;J. Glaser;D. Good;K. Gultekin;J. Hazboun;S. Hourihane;R. Jennings;A. Johnson;Megan L. Jones;A. Kaiser;D. Kaplan;L. Kelley;M. Kerr;J. Key;N. Laal;M. Lam;W. Lamb;T. Lazio;N. Lewandowska;Tingting Liu;D. Lorimer;Jingshu Luo;R. Lynch;Chung-Pei Ma;D. Madison;A. McEwen;J. McKee;M. Mclaughlin;N. McMann;B. W. Meyers;P. Meyers;C. Mingarelli;A. Mitridate;P. Natarajan;C. Ng;D. Nice;S. Ocker;K. Olum;T. Pennucci;B. Perera;P. Petrov;N. Pol;H. Radovan;S. Ransom;P. Ray;Jo√£o Romano;S. C. Sardesai;A. Schmiedekamp;C. Schmiedekamp;K. Schmitz;B. Shapiro-Albert;X. Siemens;J. Simon;M. Siwek;I. Stairs;D. Stinebring;K. Stovall;A. Susobhanan;J. Swiggum;Jacob M. Taylor;S. Taylor;J. E. Turner;C. Unal;M. Vallisneri;R. V. Haasteren;S. Vigeland;H. Wahl;C. Witt;O. Young