NSF Award
1814594
Part 1<br/> <br/>Despite sustained and extensive searches for luminous emission from masers (the microwave version of the lasers) produced by water molecules in galaxy centers, their detection remains a mere 3%. These systems, when found in a disk-like configuration, provide the most precise and accurate tools for weighing supermassive black holes, as well as unique constraints on the geometry of the universe because they can be used to directly determine extragalactic distances. The aim of this project is a comprehensive investigation of the relationship between cosmic water maser activity and the properties of their host galaxies, which is imperative for assessing the true chances of finding more of these golden standards. Maser disks are uniquely able to probe physical processes in the centers of galaxies, such as black hole accretion processes. This should improve astronomer's knowledge of black hole demographics in active galaxies, and the inter-relationship between accretion, star-formation and other issues. <br/><br/>Part 2<br/> <br/>The investigation will consist of a complex multi-parameter analysis of various measures of the nuclear water maser emission and an extensive suite of optical, infrared, and X-ray characteristics of their host galaxies, their nuclear activity, as well as their small-scale environments and morphologies. The statistics necessary to perform this study are only now available via multi-wavelength public databases, making possible to analyze the largest sample of galaxies found to date to host water masers, in comparison with galaxies in which maser detection failed. Well-defined projects are designed to address key scientific questions on the potential links between the physics of water maser emission and the age, presence, absence, type, strength, and obscuration of the nuclear star-formation and galactic black hole accretion. This study will offer unprecedented holistic constraints to the degree to which the strength and spatial configuration of water maser emission are linked to the associated nuclear galactic activity and host properties, thus providing the most efficient criteria for future disk-maser searches. <br/><br/>Undergraduate students will be actively involved in the proposed research by performing data mining, image and spectral processing, designing and testing of a large variety of statistical analysis methods, participating in obtaining new observations and networking with scientists at national observatories. Deaf and hard-of-hearing undergraduates will be included in each summer research session, and a pre-major internship for women will be implemented yearly in the existing recruiting and retaining program. A novel grass-roots public outreach program will be established to literally take Astronomy to the Market, via a "scientific corner" where the PI and a team of undergraduates will offer hands-on science-driven activities along with safe solar observations.<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.
