Probing the coeval evolution of massive galactic bulges and black holes

因为最近我们知道，可能所有的银河系都有一个中心黑洞，其质量与星系周围凸起的质量成正比：星系和它们的中心黑洞的演化是耦合的，但其基本物理学是未知的。如果黑洞因物质的流入而增长，就会发出大量的辐射能，星系的核心就会变成类星体：宇宙中最明亮的一类物体。再加上类星体宿主星系与其他星系碰撞的频率更高，并且比不活跃的星系有更多新形成的恒星，这表明类星体活动是由星系碰撞触发的，并且在类星体阶段发生了质量耦合。我有最大和最好的数据集从哈勃太空望远镜和甚大望远镜现有的研究类星体宿主星系。我想用这些数据来研究耦合的原因：1）质量关系是从早期宇宙开始演变的吗？我们能确定星系碰撞和类星体活动开始之间的时间尺度吗？宿主星系在碰撞前是什么样子的？4)自早期宇宙以来，类星体宿主星系是如何演化的？

Since recently we know that likely all Galaxies have a central black hole, with a mass proportional to the mass of the surrounding bulge of the galaxy: The evolution of galaxies and their central black holes is coupled, the underlying physics however are unknown. If the black hole grows by infall of matter, an enourmous amount of radiation-energy is emitted, the nucleus of the galaxy turns into a quasar: the most luminous class of objects in the Universe. Together with the knowledge that quasar host galaxies are more frequently seen colliding with other galaxies, and have more commonly amounts of newlyformed stars than inactive galaxies, this suggests that quasar-activity is triggered by galaxy collisions, and that the coupling of masses is occuring during this quasar-phase.In order to investigate this coupling-phenomenon, I have the largest and best datasets from the Hubble Space Telescope and Very Large Telescope available that exist to study quasar host galaxies. I want to use these data to investigate the causes for the coupling: 1) Did the mass-relation evolve since the early Universe? Can we determine a timescale between galaxy collisions and onset of quasar activity? How did the host galaxies look before the collision? 4) How did quasar host galaxies evolve since the early Universe?