Collaborative Research: Accretion Revelations from Changing-Look Quasars

类星体是明亮但微小的发光体。由于规模如此之小，很难理解它们是如何工作的。天文学家怀疑这种光辉是由气体涌入一个大质量黑洞造成的。奇怪的是，一些稀有的类星体却突然变暗了。这些是变形类星体(CLQ)，它们提供了有关闸门如何关闭的线索。该团队将使用光学观测来发现更多的CLQ并研究它们的细节。高级团队成员将从代表性不足的群体中培训初级团队成员。该团队将他们的基于光的数据转换为声音，以便他们可以与盲人或视障人士分享他们的研究。该团队将(1)对多纪元SDSS光谱进行存档和定向搜索，以产生一个新的CLQ的大而明确的统计样本，(2)根据在其光度学光曲线中观察到的戏剧性变化来选择新的CLQ候选光谱，以及(3)研究这个至少约80个CLQ样本的光谱和光度变化特性，以表征和理解这一现象。

Quasars are brilliant but tiny emitters of light. Being so tiny, it is hard to fathom how they work. Astronomers suspect the brilliance is caused by gas flooding toward a massive black hole. Curiously, a few, rare quasars have dramatically dimmed. These are the changing-look quasars (CLQs), and they offer clues about how the floodgates can close. The team will use optical observations to find more CLQs and study their details. Senior team members will train junior team members from underrepresented groups. The team will convert their light-based data to sound so that they can share their research with the blind or visually impaired.The team will (1) conduct archival and directed searches in multi-epoch SDSS optical spectra, to produce a large and well-defined statistical sample of new CLQs, (2) select new CLQ candidates for spectroscopic follow-up based on dramatic variability observed in their photometric light curves, and (3) investigate the spectroscopic and photometric variability properties of this sample of at least about 80 CLQs, to characterize and understand the phenomenon.