NSF Award
2407801
Understanding how galaxies formed and evolved to produce the Universe we see today is a high priority for the astrophysics community. The investigators will study the role played by super-massive black holes. These reside at the centers of most galaxies, which become "active" when gas, dust, and even stars fall into the black hole. This project addresses several aspects of the “active” galactic nuclei (AGN), such as the nature of the very compact X-ray-emitting region known as the corona, the mechanism that launches highly relativistic radio-wave-emitting plasma jets in a subset of AGN, and the origin of radio-wave emission in radio-quiet AGN. This project seeks to determine the origin of the radio emission and to use it as a probe of the super-massive black hole. This program will provide training opportunities for junior scientists, supporting postdocs, a graduate student, undergraduate researchers and summer. The project's research and educational work will also benefit the larger community through outreach activities in partnership with the UMBC Campus observatory, local schools, and artists in the NASA/MICA partnership program. <br/><br/>Several physical processes can contribute to the radio emission observed from AGN, including extreme star formation, hot gas associated with the compact X-ray emitting "corona" very near the black hole, shocks from relativistic winds, and nascent, small-scale, and/or failed relativistic jets. This project includes two complimentary investigations. The first is focused on a comprehensive study (multi-band radio and X-ray) of a statistically complete sample known as the PG quasar sample. The second investigation focuses in detail on two sources that are representatives of the rare class of "changing look" AGN, and for which we have recently amassed a very considerable amount of high-resolution radio imaging. Through both high-cadence time-domain investigations, highly coordinated multiwavelength observations, and multi-resolution radio observations, this project will lead to a better understanding of how the central engine functions in active galaxies. Identifying the processes contributing to the observed radio emission under different physical conditions and locations in AGN parameter-space will help us constrain models about AGN accretion, coronal emission, wind launching mechanisms and jet formation, all of which are major open questions.<br/><br/>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.
