Black Holes and Galaxy Evolution

Rutgers University New Brunswick, New Brunswick NJ

Investigators

Abstract

AST-0071099 Merritt The proposed research will use sophisticated N-body simulations to study the galaxy--supermassive black hole connection in galactic dynamics. The HST-STIS spectrograph can be used to measure velocity dispersions and velocity gradients in galaxy nuclei which can be used to test the predictions resulting from these simulations. Virtually all galaxies appear to contain supermassive black holes at their very centers, which are almost certainly relics of the quasar era when the black holes accreted gas and generated enormous luminosities. These black holes are now nearly quiescent and comprise on average only ~0.3% of the mass of their host galaxies. There is a growing body of work suggesting that the gravitational influence of the relic black holes can extend far beyond the center of a galaxy. Moreover, the formation and growth of black holes may be intimately connected with the evolution of galaxies on larger scales. For instance, mergers between galaxies containing nuclear black holes would produce supermassive black-hole binaries which would eventually coalesce while emitting gravitational radiation. The proposed research would address these questions by studying the link between black holes and their host galaxies. A major component of the work would be a study of supermassive black hole binaries. The formation and decay of these binaries may be relevant to a wide range of phenomena. Another goal is to understand how black holes affect the dynamical state of their host galaxies by influencing the motions of individual stars. The work would be heavily computational, relying on state-of-the-art N-body codes and massively parallel supercomputers. ***