Growing Supermassive Black Holes in a Young Universe

年轻宇宙中不断增长的超大质量黑洞

• 批准号: RGPIN-2016-04735
• 负责人: Gallagher, Sarah
• 金额: $ 1.97万
• 依托单位: University of Western Ontario
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2016-01-01 至 2017-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=615270
• 关键词: Growing; Supermassive; Black; Holes; Young

Every massive galaxy in the local universe hosts a supermassive black hole in its centre. Billions of years ago, these black holes grew as luminous quasars as gas fell into the black hole during the same era that most stars were born within these galaxies. The nature of the relationship between these two processes remains an active research topic. What is known is that large disks of in-falling gas power the quasars and can outshine the hundreds of billions of stars in their galaxies a thousand times over. With the radiation pressure from this light on gas and dust in the quasars' inner regions, these small powerhouses can launch energetic winds that impact the star-forming environment in their galaxies. The quasar phase is thus an important and dramatic event in the early evolution of every massive galaxy. Despite their tremendous luminous energies that enable them to be observed at great distances, quasars are quite small compared to their galaxies and the details of their inner structure remain elusive. I propose a diverse program to probe the quasar system on multiple scales, moving outward from the structure of the accretion disk, to the fast, ionized wind, then to the cooler, dusty wind, and finally to the host galaxy. Specifically, my science objectives are to: (1) Develop a next-generation observing program to map the central few light years of thousands of quasars. By modelling variability of a diverse population of quasars, we will design the optimal experiments to take advantage of the exciting capabilities of large-field, multi-object spectrographs on 10-m class telescopes to advance our understanding of the inner structure of quasars. (2) Use the wind signatures in quasar spectra to constrain the geometry of the winds. With ground-based spectroscopy and Chandra X-ray observations, we will measure the physical properties of thick winds to determine their potential to affect their host galaxies. (3) Enhance our current model of dusty winds to predict new observations. A more sophisticated treatment of the interaction of light with the dusty wind will enable us to constrain wind geometry and physics by comparing to new results from innovative observing programs. (4) Map star formation and gas motions in quasar host galaxies with advanced facilities. Learning about the large-scale properties of these galaxies will show us the link between building stars and growing black holes. The quasar activity that builds supermassive black holes occurs at some point in the evolution of all massive galaxies. The comprehensive approach characterized by these four science objectives will incorporate new and archival observations and tested models to expand our understanding of black hole growth in a young universe.

在本地宇宙中的每一个大质量星系的中心都有一个超大质量黑洞。数十亿年前，当气体落入黑洞时，这些黑洞成长为发光的类星体，而大多数恒星都是在这些星系中诞生的。这两个过程之间的关系的性质仍然是一个活跃的研究课题。我们所知道的是，由大量下落的气体组成的大圆盘为类星体提供了动力，并且可以使其星系中的数千亿颗恒星的亮度超过一千倍。由于这种光对类星体内部区域的气体和尘埃的辐射压力，这些小型发电站可以发射高能风，影响星系中的恒星形成环境。因此，类星体阶段是每个大质量星系早期演化过程中的一个重要而戏剧性的事件。尽管它们巨大的发光能量使它们能够在很远的距离被观察到，但与它们的星系相比，类星体相当小，它们内部结构的细节仍然难以捉摸。我提出了一个多样化的计划，在多个尺度上探测类星体系统，从吸积盘的结构向外移动，到快速的电离风，然后到较冷的尘埃风，最后到宿主星系。具体来说，我的科学目标是： (1)开发下一代观测计划，绘制数千个类星体的中心几光年。通过对不同类星体群体的变异性进行建模，我们将设计最佳实验，以利用10米级望远镜上大视场多目标光谱仪的令人兴奋的能力，以促进我们对类星体内部结构的理解。 (2)利用类星体光谱中的风特征来约束风的几何形状。通过地基光谱学和钱德拉X射线观测，我们将测量强风的物理特性，以确定它们影响宿主星系的潜力。 (3)增强我们目前的沙尘风模型，以预测新的观测结果。一个更复杂的处理光与尘埃风的相互作用，将使我们能够限制风的几何形状和物理比较，从创新的观测计划的新结果。 (4)用先进的设备绘制类星体宿主星系中星星的形成和气体运动。了解这些星系的大尺度特性将向我们展示恒星的形成和黑洞的增长之间的联系。 形成超大质量黑洞的类星体活动发生在所有大质量星系演化的某个时刻。以这四个科学目标为特征的综合方法将纳入新的和存档的观测结果以及经过测试的模型，以扩大我们对年轻宇宙中黑洞生长的理解。