Probing Galaxy Evolution with Active Galaxies at High Redshift

凯利·丹尼博士被授予美国国家科学基金会天文学和天体物理学博士后奖学金，在俄亥俄州立大学开展一项研究和教育计划。该研究员计划通过关注超大质量黑洞（BHs）的影响和作用以及它们在宇宙时间内的增长率，提高我们对星系形成和演化的理解。黑洞生长和星系演化之间的联系可以在活动星系核（agn）中进行研究——在这些系统中，中心的超大质量黑洞正在积极地吸积物质。在这里，可以测量黑洞的质量和吸积率，并通过反馈过程和黑洞与星系性质的关系来判断其与宿主星系演化的联系。该研究员的主要目标是通过考虑最近发现的这些质量的系统不确定性，重新校准基于Mg II和C iv的AGN黑洞质量尺度-所有高红移黑洞质量的基础。该计划还将对观测到的发射线、光谱能量分布和样品的无线电特性进行表征，以研究适用于所有类型agn的固有变红和倾斜指标的创建。最后，将花时间启动一系列未来的混响映射监测程序，直至测量黑洞质量和AGN距离的红移约2。这个项目更广泛的影响包括一个重要的教育组成部分。该研究员将承担一项教育推广计划，包括两个组成部分：(1)向哥伦布地区的学校提供以探究为基础的天文学课程，目标是6 -10年级，旨在提高教师和学生在STEM领域的态度和能力；(2)为公立学校和其他团体提供望远镜借书图书馆，用于课堂和晚上的观测活动。

Dr. Kelly Denney is awarded an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out a program of research and education at The Ohio State University. The Fellow plans to improve our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution by focusing on the impact and role of supermassive black holes (BHs) and their growth rates across cosmic time. The connection between BH growth and galaxy evolution can be studied in active galactic nuclei (AGNs)---systems in which the central supermassive BH is actively accreting matter. Here, the BH mass and accretion rate can be measured, and the connection to the host galaxy evolution can be judged through feedback processes and the relation of BH and galaxy properties.The Fellow's primary goal is to recalibrate the Mg II- and C IV-based AGN BH mass scales---on which all high-redshift BH masses are based---by taking into account recently discovered systematic uncertainties in these masses. This program will also characterize the observed emission-line, spectral energy distribution, and radio characteristics of the sample to investigate the creation of intrinsic reddening and inclination indicators applicable to all types of AGNs. Finally, time will be spent initiating a series of future reverberation mapping monitoring programs out to a redshift of around 2 for measuring BH masses and AGN distances.The broader impacts of this project include a significant educational component. The fellow will undertake a program of educational outreach with two components: (1) delivering to the Columbus-area schools an inquiry-based astronomy curriculum targeting the 6th--10th grades that aims to improve both teacher and student attitudes and competence in STEM fields, and (2) a telescope lending library available to public schools and other groups for use in the classroom and evening observing activities.