Growing Supermassive Black Holes in a Young Universe

当地宇宙中的每个大质量星系的中心都有一个超大质量黑洞。数十亿年前，这些黑洞随着气体落入黑洞而成长为发光的类星体，当时大多数恒星都在这些星系中诞生。这两个过程之间的关系的性质仍然是一个活跃的研究课题。已知的是，巨大的下落气体圆盘为类星体提供动力，可以超过其所在星系中数千亿颗恒星一千倍的亮度。利用这种光对类星体内部气体和尘埃的辐射压力，这些小型发电站可以发出高能风，影响它们所在星系的恒星形成环境。因此，类星体阶段在每个大质量星系的早期演化中都是一个重要而戏剧性的事件。尽管类星体的巨大光能使人们能够在很远的距离上观察到它们，但与它们所在的星系相比，类星体相当小，其内部结构的细节仍然难以捉摸。我提出了一个不同的计划，在多个尺度上探测类星体系统，从吸积盘的结构向外移动，到快速的电离风，然后到更凉爽的尘埃风，最后到宿主星系。具体地说，我的科学目标是： (1)开发下一代观测计划，绘制数千个类星体中心几光年的地图。通过模拟不同类星体的可变性，我们将设计最优的实验，以利用10米级望远镜上大视场、多目标光谱仪的激发能力，以促进我们对类星体内部结构的理解。 (2)利用类星体光谱中的风信号来约束风的几何形状。通过地面光谱和钱德拉X射线观测，我们将测量厚风的物理性质，以确定它们影响其宿主星系的可能性。 (3)加强我们目前的沙尘风模型，以预测新的观测结果。对光与尘埃风的相互作用进行更复杂的处理，将使我们能够通过与创新观测项目的新结果进行比较，来约束风的几何和物理。 (4)绘制具有先进设备的类星体宿主星系中的恒星形成和气体运动图。了解这些星系的大规模性质将向我们展示建造恒星和不断生长的黑洞之间的联系。 建造超大质量黑洞的类星体活动发生在所有大质量星系演化的某个时刻。以这四个科学目标为特征的综合方法将包括新的和档案观察和测试的模型，以扩大我们对年轻宇宙中黑洞增长的理解。

Every massive galaxy in the local universe hosts a supermassive black hole in its centre. Billions of years ago, these black holes grew as luminous quasars as gas fell into the black hole during the same era that most stars were born within these galaxies. The nature of the relationship between these two processes remains an active research topic. What is known is that large disks of in-falling gas power the quasars and can outshine the hundreds of billions of stars in their galaxies a thousand times over. With the radiation pressure from this light on gas and dust in the quasars' inner regions, these small powerhouses can launch energetic winds that impact the star-forming environment in their galaxies. The quasar phase is thus an important and dramatic event in the early evolution of every massive galaxy. Despite their tremendous luminous energies that enable them to be observed at great distances, quasars are quite small compared to their galaxies and the details of their inner structure remain elusive. I propose a diverse program to probe the quasar system on multiple scales, moving outward from the structure of the accretion disk, to the fast, ionized wind, then to the cooler, dusty wind, and finally to the host galaxy. Specifically, my science objectives are to: (1) Develop a next-generation observing program to map the central few light years of thousands of quasars. By modelling variability of a diverse population of quasars, we will design the optimal experiments to take advantage of the exciting capabilities of large-field, multi-object spectrographs on 10-m class telescopes to advance our understanding of the inner structure of quasars. (2) Use the wind signatures in quasar spectra to constrain the geometry of the winds. With ground-based spectroscopy and Chandra X-ray observations, we will measure the physical properties of thick winds to determine their potential to affect their host galaxies. (3) Enhance our current model of dusty winds to predict new observations. A more sophisticated treatment of the interaction of light with the dusty wind will enable us to constrain wind geometry and physics by comparing to new results from innovative observing programs. (4) Map star formation and gas motions in quasar host galaxies with advanced facilities. Learning about the large-scale properties of these galaxies will show us the link between building stars and growing black holes. The quasar activity that builds supermassive black holes occurs at some point in the evolution of all massive galaxies. The comprehensive approach characterized by these four science objectives will incorporate new and archival observations and tested models to expand our understanding of black hole growth in a young universe.