The inner workings of early-type galaxies: the relation between nuclear star clusters, cores, and supermassive black holes

早期型星系的内部运作：核星团、核心和超大质量黑洞之间的关系

• 批准号: 327261-2007
• 负责人: Ferrarese, Laura
• 金额: $ 1.57万
• 依托单位: University of Victoria
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2007-01-01 至 2008-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=364081
• 关键词: inner; workings; early; type; galaxies

Recent years have seen dramatic progress in the study of the core and nuclear properties of galaxies. The dynamical centers of galaxies have been found capable of hosting two seemingly disparate objects: supermassive black holes (SBHs) and compact nuclear star clusters (NSCs). In a drastic departure from previous beliefs, it has been discovered that both structures are common: galaxies lacking SBHs and/or NSCs are the exception, rather than the norm. Furthermore, the connection between SBHs and NSCs is deeper than one might have expected: both are linked to the global galactic properties by similar scaling relations; both contain the same fraction, ~0.3%, of the total galactic mass.Theoretical work has shown that the structure and evolution of galaxies is profoundly affected by the presence of SBHs. The role of NSCs is still unclear, since very little is known about these enigmatic objects. The goal of this proposal is therefore to provide a secure observational characterization of NSCs, and seek their relation to SBHs and the global properties of their host galaxies. The results will help lay the solid observational foundations needed to develop a comprehensive theoretical framework of galaxy formation/evolution.

近年来，对星系核心和核属性的研究取得了巨大进展。星系的动力学中心被发现能够容纳两个看似不同的物体：超大质量黑洞(SBHs)和致密核星团(NSCs)。与之前的看法大相径庭的是，人们发现这两种结构都很常见：没有SBH和/或NSCs的星系是例外，而不是常态。此外，SBHs和NSCs之间的联系比人们可能预期的更深：两者都通过相似的标度关系与全球银河系的性质联系在一起，都含有相同的比例，约占星系总质量的0.3%。理论工作表明，SBHs的存在深刻地影响了星系的结构和演化。神经干细胞的作用仍然不清楚，因为人们对这些神秘的物体知之甚少。因此，这项提议的目标是提供一种安全的NSCs观测特征，并寻找它们与SBHs及其宿主星系的全球性质的关系。这些结果将有助于为开发星系形成/演化的全面理论框架奠定坚实的观测基础。