RUI: Understanding the evolutionary behavior of and radio emission in red quasars

这个项目将研究类星体是如何进化和影响其宿主星系的。类星体正在星系中心活跃地生长着超大质量黑洞。该项目的重点将是一类类星体，它们之所以显示为红色，是因为它们嵌入在尘埃环境中。这些红色类星体释放出巨大的能量来驱逐尘埃，并将这些能量注入到它们的宿主星系中，影响它们的演化。红色类星体中的这种活动可能是解释为什么一些类星体在射电波长发射光，而另一些类星体不发出光的关键。这项工作将涉及米德尔伯里学院本科生的重大贡献。PI将开发一门观测天体物理学课程，培训学生利用米德尔伯里的校园天文台进行成像和光谱学方面的培训。类星体及其宿主星系的共同演化还没有被很好地理解，这个项目将集中在一群尘埃变红(红色)的类星体上，这些类星体正处于过渡阶段，反馈机制尚未被很好地理解为主导。发光类星体被认为是由富含气体的星系之间的主要合并点燃的，而本文将研究的红色类星体正处于紧急阶段，在此期间，它们的尘埃茧被吹散了。红色类星体已被证明具有增强的射电辐射，可能将喷流的形成与合并现象联系起来，或者在这些系统中暴露出不同形式的反馈，例如尘埃辐射驱动的风。为了探索这些问题，PI将在光度、红移和射电发射性质的广泛范围内构建完整的红色类星体样本。这些样品将被研究，以了解它们的射电发射作为光度和变红的函数之间的差异。红色类星体占类星体总数的比例将被确定，区分出它们的射电辐射差异；这一比例代表了处于“井喷”阶段的时间比例，根据类星体的无线电性质，这一比例可能会有所不同。这项工作的实施将包括红色类星体候选的光度选择，大型地面望远镜设施的近红外和光学光谱的光谱跟踪，以及详细的光谱分析，以确定类星体的基本性质，如红移、变红、本征光度、黑洞质量和吸积率。这项拟议研究的结果将是构建统计上完整的尘埃变红类星体样本，其辐射热学和射电光度超过两个数量级。该项目由MPS/AST和既定的激励竞争性研究计划(EPSCoR)共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF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。

This project will investigate how quasars, which are actively growing supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies, evolve and influence their host galaxies. The focus of the project will be on a class of quasars that appear red because they are embedded in a dusty environment. These red quasars emit tremendous amounts of energy that expels the dust and injects that energy into their host galaxies, affecting their evolution. This activity in red quasars may be the key to explaining why some quasars emit light at radio wavelengths while others do not. The work will involve significant contribution from undergraduate research students at Middlebury College. The PI will develop an observational astrophysics course that will train students utilizing Middlebury's campus observatory both in imaging and spectroscopy. The co-evolution of quasars and their host galaxies is not well understood, and this project will focus on a population of dust-reddened ("red") quasars that are in a transitional phase where feedback mechanisms, which are not well understood, dominate. Luminous quasars are thought to be ignited by major mergers between gas-rich galaxies and the red quasars that will be studied in this work are in an emergent phase, during which their cocoon of dust is blown out. Red quasars have been shown to have enhanced radio emission, possibly linking the formation of jets to the merger phenomenon or exposing a different form of feedback in these systems, such as dusty radiation-driven winds. To explore these issues, the PI will construct complete samples of red quasars over a broad range in luminosity, redshift, and radio-emitting properties. These samples will be studied to understand the differences between their radio emission, as a function of luminosity and reddening. The fraction of red quasars compared to the total quasar population will be determined, separating out differences in their radio emission; this fraction represents the fraction of time spent in the "blow-out" phase, which may be different depending on the quasar's radio properties. The execution of this work will involve photometric selection of red quasar candidates, spectroscopic follow up with near-infrared and optical spectroscopy at large ground-based telescope facilities, and detailed analysis of the spectra to determine fundamental properties of the quasars such as redshift, reddening, intrinsic luminosity, black hole mass, and accretion rate. The outcome of this proposed research will be the construction of statistically complete samples of dust-reddened quasars spanning more than two orders of magnitude in bolometric and radio luminosity. This project is jointly funded by MPS/AST and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).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.