The dynamics of rotating triaxial galaxies with massive black holes

具有大质量黑洞的旋转三轴星系的动力学

• 批准号: 0908346
• 负责人: Monica Valluri
• 金额: $ 44.01万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-01 至 2013-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0908346&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: dynamics; rotating; triaxial; galaxies; massive

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Dr Valluri will study stellar motions in galaxies that are triaxial or have barred disks, and harbor supermassive black holes at their centers. Most elliptical galaxies are triaxial, and roughly half of all disk galaxies are barred. Despite this, the masses of their central black holes are generally determined by fitting axisymmetric (or even spherical) galaxy models to the observational data. Dr Valluri will start by investigating orbits in model triaxial potentials, finding the underlying frequencies of the regular orbits to classify them into their major families, and mapping out the regions where orbits are chaotic. She will then use the same technique on the orbits of particles in gravitational N-body simulations of rotating triaxial and barred galaxies, both with and without a central black hole. Finally, she will improve her current axisymmetric Schwarzschild code to include triaxiality and figure rotation. This code generates gravitationally self-consistent models that will be used to estimate the masses of the black holes at the centers of well-observed nearby galaxies. An undergraduate student will participate in the research. The anticipated results are of broad scientific interest, since mass estimates for galaxy-center black holes are used to constrain the efficiency with which active galactic nuclei radiate energy, and to estimate how often the merger of binary supermassive black holes should be detectable by gravitational wave experiments. Dr Valluri will lead a discussion and mentoring group for women graduate students and undergraduate students in her department. She will also carry out hands-on astronomy projects for K-12 students in collaboration with the University of Michigan's Museum of Natural History and Planetarium.

该奖项是根据2009年的《美国复苏和再投资法》（公法111-5）资助的。瓦鲁里德（Dr Valluri）将研究三轴或禁止磁盘的星系中的出色动作，并在其中心藏有超大型黑洞。 大多数椭圆星系都是三轴的，所有磁盘星系中大约有一半被禁止。 尽管如此，其中央黑洞的质量通常是通过将轴对称（甚至球形）星系模型与观察数据拟合的。 Valluri博士将首先研究模型三轴电势中的轨道，发现常规轨道的潜在频率将其分类为主要家庭，并绘制轨道混乱的区域。 然后，她将在带有和不带有中央黑洞的旋转三轴和禁止星系的引力N体和禁止星系中使用相同的技术在颗粒的轨道上使用相同的技术。 最后，她将改善当前的轴对称Schwarzschild代码，包括三轴性和人物旋转。 该代码生成了重力自洽的模型，该模型将用于估算附近良好的星系中心中心的黑洞质量。本科生将参加这项研究。 预期的结果具有广泛的科学意义，因为使用星系中心黑洞的质量估计值来限制主动银河系辐射能量的效率，并通过重力波实验进行估计二进制超质量黑洞的合并的频率。 Valluri博士将领导一个讨论和指导小组，为女性研究生和本科生。 她还将与密歇根大学的自然历史和天文馆博物馆合作，为K-12学生进行动手天文学项目。