Active Galactic Nuclei in Merging Galaxies, Viewed with Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。马克斯博士将领导一个项目，在凯克天文台使用激光引导星星自适应光学来研究星系合并，其中包括合并对中至少一个活动星系核。研究团队将使用近红外波长的成像和空间分辨积分场光谱学来测量黑洞质量、恒星速度色散的空间分布、中心100 pc内可能存在的气体盘以及黑洞几百pc范围内区域的反馈和流出的性质。Max博士将为NSF资助的Akamai Workforce Initiative开发一个新的招聘计划，该项目的目标是增加夏威夷当地大学生对科学和技术的参与，重点是天文观测站、天文学研究和技术开发。她将在少数族裔入学率高的社区大学和为女性和夏威夷土著成员服务的学生组织发表演讲。 该资助计划的其他更广泛的影响包括自适应光学的开发和使用，这将有利于未来的大型望远镜项目。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Dr. Max will lead a project to use laser guide star adaptive optics at the Keck Observatory to study galaxy mergers involving at least one active galactic nucleus among the merging pair. The research team will use imaging and spatially resolved integral field spectroscopy at near-IR wavelengths to measure black hole mass, spatial distribution of stellar velocity dispersion, potential presence of gas disks in the central 100 pc, and the nature of feedback and outflows in the region within a few hundred pc of the black hole.Dr. Max will develop a new recruiting program for the NSF-funded Akamai Workforce Initiative, the goal of which is to increase participation of local college students in science and technology in Hawaii, with a focus on astronomical observatories, astronomy research, and technology development. She will give talks at community colleges with high minority enrollments, and student organizations serving female and native Hawaiian memberships. Additional broader impacts of the funded program include development and use of adaptive optics, which will benefit future large telescope projects.