Active Galactic Nuclei

University Of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara CA

Investigators

Abstract

ABSTRACT AST 0098719 Antonucci Active galactic nuclei, (AGN) are some of the most dramatic components of the Universe---they emit prodigious amounts of power (as much as several orders of magnitude more than a bright galaxy), radiate it over a tremendous swath of the electromagnetic spectrum (from the radio region to hard X-rays), and sometimes generate bulk relativistic flows which emerge as jets of particles stretching for millions of light years from their centers. This project covers several different projects. One set of projects is directed at determining the energy source in different types of AGN. They include mid-infrared observations of radio galaxies, to locate hidden AGN which can be seen by their waste heat; photometry in the millimeter spectral regions, to see if optically dull radio galaxies have no hidden optical AGN; and mapping and spectroscopy in the mm waveband, to identify gravitational lensed quasars. The second set of projects involves adaptive optics observations of nearby and high-redshift AGN, including an isotropically selected Seyfert sample, and high redshift quasars and radio galaxies for host information. Funding for this project was provided by the NSF program for Extragalactic Astronomy & Cosmology (AST/EXC). ***