Spatially Resolving the AGN Broad Emission Line Region

黑洞是太阳质量的数百万到数十亿倍，占据了大多数星系的中心。落在这些超大质量黑洞上的热气体发出的光足以让天文学家探测到与宇宙历史早期阶段相对应的很远的距离。中央黑洞的质量告诉我们对星系和黑洞如何形成和增长的理解。目前用于测量它的方法依赖于假设快速移动的气体在黑洞周围的轨道上。这个项目将使用具有足够高的角分辨率的数据来测试这一基本假设，以便直接看到气体运动。它将决定气体是落在黑洞上并不断生长，还是向外流动并逃逸。这些观测将通过使用科罗拉多大学博尔德校区的望远镜进行监测来辅助。监测观测将用于培训教室内外的学生进行天文观测，特别是为来自传统上被忽视的背景的本科生提供早期研究经验。在这个项目中，PI和团队将使用来自甚大望远镜干涉仪光束合成器重力的新数据，对11个明亮的I型活动星系核样本进行空间解析宽发射线区域的运动学和结构。使用运动学模型，他们将测量宽广的发射线半径，并建立干涉半径-光度关系，作为与使用混响映射获得的结果的独立比较。根据模拟结果，他们将推断出发射线区域结构和中心黑洞质量。在少数两种类型的测量都存在的情况下，他们将把他们的结果与速度分辨混响映射的结果结合起来，对广泛的发射线结构和运动学进行详细研究。同样的数据提供了热尘埃结构的测量，这将被用来研究热尘埃和亚毫秒级原子气体之间的物理联系。他们还将开发和应用盘状风的运动学模型，包括线发射光学厚度的地方，以确定主要的发射线运动学是连续流出的结果，还是为超大质量黑洞提供资金的流入的一部分。VLTI/重力观测在很大程度上依赖于可见光性能，而可见光性能与光学亮度的变化有关。调查人员将使用位于CU Boulder校园的Sommers-Bausch天文台的两个20英寸望远镜进行可见波长监测观测，以帮助选择目标。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Black holes millions to billions of times the mass of the sun occupy the centers of most galaxies. Hot gas falling onto these supermassive black holes radiates light, which can be bright enough for Astronomers to detect out to large distances corresponding to early stages in the history of the Universe. The mass of the central black hole informs our understanding how galaxies and black holes form and grow. The current method used to measure it depends on the assumption that fast moving gas is in orbit around the black hole. This project will test this basic assumption using data with sufficiently high angular resolution to see the gas motions directly. It will determine whether the gas is falling onto and growing the black hole, or flowing outwards and escaping. The observations will be assisted by monitoring using telescopes on the CU Boulder campus. The monitoring observations will be used to train students both inside and outside the classroom in astronomical observing, and particularly to provide early research experiences for undergraduates from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds.In this project the PI and team will use new data from the Very Large Telescope Interferometer beam combiner instrument GRAVITY to spatially resolve the kinematics and structure of the broad emission line region for a sample of 11 bright Type 1 AGN. Using kinematic models, they will measure the broad emission line radius and establish an interferometric radius-luminosity relation as an independent comparison to those obtained using reverberation mapping. From the modeling results they will infer the emission line region structure and the central black hole mass. In a few cases where both types of measurements exist, they will combine their results with those from velocity-resolved reverberation mapping to carry out detailed studies of the broad emission line structure and kinematics. The same data provide measurements of hot dust structure, which will be used to study the physical connection between the hot dust and atomic gas on sub-milliarcsecond scales. They will also develop and apply kinematic models of disk winds, including where the line emission is optically thick, to determine whether the dominant emission line kinematics is a result of a continuous outflow, or part of the inflow feeding the supermassive black hole. The VLTI/GRAVITY observations critically depend on visible AO performance, which is related to the variable optical brightness. The investigators will use visible wavelength monitoring observations using two 20" telescopes at the Sommers-Bausch Observatory on the CU Boulder campus to assist in target selection.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.