Collaborative Research: Investigations of Quasar Variability with High-Cadence Spectroscopy

合作研究：利用高节奏光谱研究类星体变异性

• 批准号: 2108667
• 负责人: Catherine Grier
• 金额: $ 35.15万
• 依托单位: University of Arizona
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-09-01 至 2023-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2108667&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Investigations; Quasar; Variability

This project will investigate the inner workings of quasars, which are supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies that are pulling in large amounts of material. The material forms a hot disk around the supermassive black hole as it falls and emits across the entire electromagnetic spectrum at extremely high luminosities, making these objects visible across the entire observable universe. Using an unprecedented dataset containing observations of thousands of quasars, this project will uncover details about the inner environments of quasars, which are important for understanding the relationship between the supermassive black holes and the galaxies they live in. This understanding is important for determining how galaxies form, evolve, and resulted in the universe that we see today. In addition, this project will provide support for a black-hole themed summer camp at the University of Arizona and a summer bridge program for physics students at the University of Connecticut; both of these programs specifically recruit and target students from groups that are underrepresented in STEM fields.The nature of the interaction between supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and their host galaxies is one of the major unanswered questions in studies of galaxy formation and evolution. Quasars are prime targets for investigating these questions; however, the inner regions of quasars are difficult to characterize due to their small angular size. Variability in quasars can be used to learn about the environment surrounding the SMBH from a variety of different angles, thus providing critical information for studies of AGN feedback and galaxy evolution. The proposed project will leverage high-cadence and long-duration spectroscopic monitoring from the SDSS III/IV Reverberation Mapping Project and the SDSS-V Black Hole Mapper Reverberation Mapping Project, which are obtaining hundreds of spectral epochs for thousands of quasars. This project will make full use of these data to: (1) Measure properties of quasar accretion-disk winds by studying the variability of broad absorption features in quasar spectra. This will measure the energy contained within these outflows, which allows us to determine whether these outflows can provide significant feedback to the quasar host galaxies; (2) Measure ensemble variability characteristics of a variety of quasar emission lines over a variety of different timescales, which provides information on physical conditions of the quasar broad-line emitting regions and identifies the false-positive rate of searches for binary black holes; (3) Do a systematic search for "extreme" variability events, which will allow us to distinguish between different models of accretion disks and energetics. The results from this study will allow us to better characterize the inner environment and accretion physics governing the activity of quasars, allowing us to better understand their interactions with the galaxies in which they reside.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.

该项目将调查类星体的内部工作，它们是正在吸收大量材料的星系中心的超质量黑洞。该材料在超级质量黑洞周围形成热盘，并在极高的亮度上散发出整个电磁频谱，使这些物体在整个可观察到的宇宙中可见。该项目使用含有数千种类星体的观察结果的空前数据集，将揭示有关类星体内部环境的详细信息，这对于理解超级质量的黑洞与他们所生活的星系之间的关系非常重要。这种理解对于确定星系，形成星系，并在我们今天所见的宇宙中如何发展，这对于确定如何发展。此外，该项目将为亚利桑那大学的黑洞主题夏令营提供支持，并为康涅狄格大学的物理学生提供夏季桥梁计划；这两个计划都专门招募了STEM领域中代表性不足的群体的学生。类星体是调查这些问题的主要目标；但是，由于其角度小的角度，很难表征类星体的内部区域。类星体的可变性可用于从各种不同角度学习SMBH周围的环境，从而为AGN反馈和星系进化提供关键信息。拟议的项目将利用SDSS III/IV回响映射项目和SDSS-V黑洞映射映射项目的高效率和长期光谱监测，这些项目正在获得数百个光谱时期的数百个Quasars。该项目将充分利用这些数据来：（1）通过研究类星体光谱中广泛吸收特征的变异性来衡量类星体增生磁风的特性。这将衡量这些流出中包含的能量，这使我们能够确定这些流出是否可以为类星体宿主星系提供大量反馈； （2）测量各种不同时间尺度上各种类星体发射线的合奏变异性特征，该特征提供了有关类星体宽线发射区域物理条件的信息，并确定了对二进制黑孔的错误阳性搜索速率； （3）对“极端”可变性事件进行系统的搜索，这将使我们能够区分不同模型的积聚磁盘和能量学模型。这项研究的结果将使我们能够更好地表征内部环境和促进类星体活动的物理学，从而使我们能够更好地理解他们与它们所居住的星系的相互作用。这项奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并认为通过基金会的知识分子和更广泛的影响来评估Criteria的评估。