Collaborative Research: Reverberation Mapping with Multi-Object Spectroscopy - from Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping to the Black Hole Mapper

这个项目将研究徘徊在宇宙中大多数大星系中心的超大质量黑洞发出的闪光。这些超大质量黑洞的质量超过太阳质量的100万倍（最多约100亿倍），被“喂”进这些黑洞的物质发出的发光辐射比整个星系发出的恒星光还要亮，这使得在宇宙非常遥远的区域也能观测到这些黑洞。在这个项目中，天文学家将测量这些超大质量黑洞的辐射变化，以及黑洞周围的物质如何“回应”这种变化。这种测量到的回声可以让天文学家推断出这些正在活跃生长的巨型黑洞的质量，反过来，帮助他们了解超大质量黑洞是如何在宇宙历史中形成和演化的。在“更广泛的影响”领域，这些私人机构计划将他们的研究纳入各自机构的强大教育和推广项目。这些项目特别包括以数据分析为中心的高中女生夏令营、针对中学的黑洞研讨会、针对非传统背景的物理学本科生的新暑期桥梁项目。这些项目将鼓励传统上在STEM领域代表性不足的群体参与。超大质量黑洞在宇宙中大质量星系的中心无处不在。当它们积极地吸积物质以增加质量时，它们可以产生巨大的辐射，这种辐射通常比这些大质量黑洞所在的整个星系都要亮。这种来自活跃的超大质量黑洞的辐射不是恒定的，而是在现代天文设备可以测量到的水平上闪烁。这个项目将在五年的时间里测量数千个活跃的超大质量黑洞的闪烁，以及黑洞周围气体云的“回声”。这些回波测量将推断黑洞附近这些气体云的空间范围，并使黑洞质量的测量成为可能。该项目将利用该技术以前所未有的工业规模测量活跃的超大质量黑洞的质量，其中大多数都在数十亿光年之外，以了解超大质量黑洞的宇宙演化及其与宿主星系的关系。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。

This project will study the flicker of light from supermassive black holes that linger at the center of most of the big galaxies in the universe. These supermassive black holes weigh more than a million (up to about ten billion) times the mass of the Sun, and the glowing radiation from materials being “fed” into these black holes can outshine the star light from the entire galaxy, allowing these black holes to be observed in the very distant regions of the universe. In this project, astronomers will measure the variations of radiation from these supermassive black holes and how the materials immediately surrounding the black hole “echo” this variability. This measured echo allows astronomers to infer the mass of these monster black holes that are actively growing, and, in turn, help them understand how supermassive black holes form and evolve across cosmic history. In the area of Broader Impacts, the PIs plan to incorporate their research into strong educational and outreach programs at each of their institutions. In particular, these programs include a summer camp for high school girls, centered on data analysis, a black-hole workshop for middle schools, and a new summer bridge program for physics undergraduates from non-traditional backgrounds. These programs will encourage the participation of groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields.Supermassive black holes are ubiquitous at the center of massive galaxies in the universe. When they are actively accreting matter to build up their mass, they can produce immense radiation that often outshines the entire galaxy in which these massive black holes reside. This radiation from active supermassive black holes is not constant, but flickers at levels that are measurable with modern astronomical facilities. This project will measure the flicker from thousands of such active supermassive black holes over a five-year period, and the “echoes” from gas clouds immediately surrounding the black hole. These echo measurements will infer the spatial extent of these gas clouds in the vicinity of the black hole, and enable the measurement of the black hole mass. This project will use this technique to measure the masses of active supermassive black holes on an unprecedented industrial scale, most of which are billions of light years away, to understand the cosmic evolution of supermassive black holes and their relationships with their host galaxies.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.