Collaborative Research: Establishing the Foundations of Black Hole Mass Measurements of AGN Across Cosmic Time

合作研究：建立跨宇宙时间活动星系核黑洞质量测量的基础

• 批准号: 1907290
• 负责人: Aaron Barth
• 金额: $ 47.07万
• 依托单位: University of California-Irvine
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-09-01 至 2023-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1907290&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Establishing; Foundations; Black

Part 1Supermassive black holes are the largest black holes in the universe, ranging from millions to billions of times the mass of the Sun. A major theme in astronomy is understanding how these black holes grew to their enormous masses. This project will investigate the growth of black holes by carrying out observational studies of quasars, which are supermassive black holes that are growing rapidly. Using a method called "echo mapping", the investigators will determine how gas flows around the black holes in quasars and measure the masses of the black holes. This work will use new data analysis tools and software developed by their team that will make it possible to measure the black hole masses with higher accuracy than earlier methods. They will also analyze data from earlier observing projects in order to assemble a large collection of quasars with accurate black hole mass measurements. They will use these results to develop improved methods to estimate the masses of black holes in the most distant quasars in the universe. This work will provide an important new foundation for studies of black hole growth across the history of the cosmos. The investigators will work with undergraduate astronomy majors, focusing on conducting research. They will mentor and advise students considering going on to graduate school, and will provide summer research opportunities to students in the "Cal-Bridge" program.Part 2Understanding the growth and evolution of supermassive black holes across cosmic time is a central theme in astronomy. Very distant black holes can only be identified and studied when they are actively growing by accreting matter from their surroundings and shining brightly as quasars. Measuring the masses of the black holes in quasars is a key to understanding how black holes grow and influence their environments. The technique of "echo mapping" is one of the best tools to study the physical properties and black hole masses of quasars. This method uses the variations over time in a quasar's light to map out the distribution and motion of gas around the black hole. The goal of this project is to advance the science of quasar echo mapping through a combination of new observations and the development of new data analysis methods. The investigators will acquire new echo mapping data using several telescopes, and use the data to map the distribution of gas around the black holes. They will apply new data analysis methods developed by our team to interpret echo mapping data in a physical framework that will enable direct determination of the masses of black holes. Finally, they will carry out a uniform re-analysis of all available echo mapping data from earlier work, and use the results to derive an improved calibration of the black hole masses in distant quasars. This work will provide a rigorous new foundation for investigations of black hole growth across the history of the universe. The investigators will work with undergraduate astronomy majors, focusing on conducting research. They will mentor and advise students considering going on to graduate school, and will provide summer research opportunities to students in the "Cal-Bridge" program.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.

第1部分的黑洞是宇宙中最大的黑洞，范围从数百万到数十亿倍的太阳。天文学的一个主要主题是了解这些黑洞如何发展到它们巨大的群众。该项目将通过对类星体进行观察性研究来调查黑洞的生长，这些类星体是超级质量的黑洞，它们正在迅速生长。使用称为“回声映射”的方法，研究人员将确定气体如何在类星体中的黑洞周围流动并测量黑洞的质量。这项工作将使用其团队开发的新数据分析工具和软件，这将使以比早期方法更高的精度测量黑洞质量。他们还将分析早期观察项目的数据，以组装大量的类星体，并具有准确的黑洞质量测量。他们将使用这些结果来开发改进的方法，以估计宇宙中最遥远的类星体中黑洞的质量。这项工作将为研究宇宙历史的黑洞生长研究提供一个重要的新基础。 调查人员将与本科生的天文专业专业合作，重点是进行研究。 他们将指导和建议考虑继续研究生院的学生，并将为“ Cal-Bridge”计划的学生提供夏季的研究机会。部分理解超级质量黑洞在宇宙时代的增长和演变是天文学的核心主题。只有在通过从周围环境中积累物质并像类星体一样闪耀的物质，只有在它们积极生长时才能识别和研究非常遥远的黑洞。测量类星体中黑洞的质量是了解黑洞如何生长和影响其环境的关键。 “回声映射”的技术是研究类星体物理特性和黑洞质量的最佳工具之一。该方法在类星体的光中使用随时间的变化来绘制黑洞周围气体的分布和运动。该项目的目的是通过新观察和开发新数据分析方法的结合来推进类星体回声映射的科学。研究人员将使用多个望远镜获取新的回声映射数据，并使用数据绘制黑洞周围的气体分布。他们将应用我们的团队开发的新数据分析方法来解释物理框架中的回声映射数据，该框架将直接确定黑洞的质量。最后，他们将对早期工作中所有可用的Echo映射数据进行统一的重新分析，并使用结果来得出遥远类星体中黑洞质量的改进校准。这项工作将为整个宇宙历史上的黑洞增长提供严格的新基础。 调查人员将与本科生的天文专业专业合作，重点是进行研究。 他们将指导和建议考虑继续研究生院的学生，并将在“ Cal-Bridge”计划中为学生提供夏季的研究机会。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子优点评估来支持的。和更广泛的影响审查标准。

项目成果

AGN STORM 2. III. A NICER View of the Variable X-Ray Obscurer in Mrk 817

• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/acbf44
• 发表时间: 2023-02
• 期刊: The Astrophysical Journal
• 作者: E. Partington;E. Cackett;E. Kara;G. Kriss;A. Barth;G. D. Rosa;Y. Homayouni;K. Horne;H. Landt;A. Zoghbi;R. Edelson;N. Arav;Benjamin D. Boizelle;M. Bentz;M. Brotherton;D. Byun;E. Bontà;M. Dehghanian;P. Du;C. Fian;A. Filippenko;J. Gelbord;M. Goad;D. G. Buitrago;C. Grier;P. Hall;Chen Hu;D. Ilić;M. D. Joner;Shai Kaspi Christopher S. Kochanek;K. Korista;A. Kovačević;D. Kynoch;J. McLane;M. Mehdipour;Jake A. Miller Christos Panagiotou;R. Plesha;L. Popović;D. Proga;D. Rogantini;T. Storchi-Bergmann;D. Sanmartim;M. Siebert;M. Vestergaard;Martin P. Ward;T. Waters;F. Zaidouni

A Luminous Quasar at Redshift 7.642

• DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/abd8c6
• 发表时间: 2021-01
• 期刊: The Astrophysical Journal Letters
• 作者: Feige Wang;Jinyi Yang;Xiaohui Fan;J. Hennawi;A. Barth;E. Bañados;F. Bian;K. Boutsia;T. Connor;F. Davies;R. Decarli;A. Eilers;E. Farina;R. Green;Linhua Jiang;Jiangtao Li;C. Mazzucchelli;R. Nanni;Jan-Torge Schindler;B. Venemans;F. Walter;Xue-bing Wu;M. Yue

Continuum Reverberation Mapping of Mrk 876 over Three Years with Remote Robotic Observatories

• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ace342
• 发表时间: 2023-07
• 期刊: The Astrophysical Journal
• 作者: Jake A. Miller;E. Cackett;M. Goad;K. Horne;A. Barth;E. Romero-Colmenero;M. Fausnaugh;J. Gelbord;K. Korista;H. Landt;T. Treu;H. Winkler

AGN STORM 2. IV. Swift X-Ray and Ultraviolet/Optical Monitoring of Mrk 817

• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/acfdac
• 发表时间: 2023-06
• 期刊: The Astrophysical Journal
• 作者: E. Cackett;J. Gelbord;A. Barth;G. D. Rosa;R. Edelson;M. Goad;Y. Homayouni;K. Horne;E. Kara;G. Kriss;K. Korista;H. Landt;R. Plesha;N. Arav;M. Bentz;Benjamin D. Boizelle;E. Bontà;M. Dehghanian;F. Donnan;P. Du;G. Ferland;C. Fian;A. Filippenko;D. G. Buitrago;C. Grier;P. Hall;Chen Hu;D. Ilić;J. Kaastra;S. Kaspi;C. Kochanek;A. Kovačević;D. Kynoch;Yan-Rong Li;J. McLane;M. Mehdipour;Jake A. Miller;J. Montano;H. Netzer;C. Panagiotou;E. Partington;L. Popović;D. Proga;D. Rogantini;D. Sanmartim;M. Siebert;T. Storchi-Bergmann;M. Vestergaard;Jian-Min Wang;T. Waters;F. Zaidouni

Dynamical Modeling of the C iv Broad Line Region of the z = 2.805 Multiply Imaged Quasar SDSS J2222+2745

z = 2.805 的 C iv 宽线区域的动态建模 多重成像类星体 SDSS J2222 2745

• DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ac081b
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: The Astrophysical Journal Letters
• 作者: Williams, Peter R.;Treu, Tommaso;Dahle, Håkon;Valenti, Stefano;Abramson, Louis;Barth, Aaron J.;Brewer, Brendon J.;Dyrland, Karianne;Gladders, Michael;Horne, Keith
• 通讯作者: Horne, Keith