The Importance of Merging and Changes Over Time in Luminous Quasars Selected by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer Observatory

Princeton University, Princeton NJ

Investigators

Abstract

Part 1 Supermassive black holes (BHs) are common in the centers of nearby massive galaxies, and energy from accreting BHs likely plays an important role in changes of galaxy properties over time. Nevertheless, basic questions remain about the fueling and feedback mechanisms in Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). For one, we still do not know whether major mergers of galaxies are required to fuel the most luminous AGN, despite decades of research. For another, we have not yet fully mapped the clustering strengths of AGN as a function of luminosity, obscuration, or selection method. The PIs will use nearby AGN to study their properties and the properties of the galaxies within which they reside. Part 2 The PIs propose to combine the all-sky Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer Observatory (WISE) survey with XMM-Newton data to select ~10,000 of the most luminous active galactic nuclei (AGN) with z<1 over 200 square degrees of sky. Thanks to the deep and high-resolution imaging available from the HyperSuprime Camera Survey (HSC), the PIs will extract unprecedented constraints on the clustering properties, bulge fractions, and merger fractions, to understand the role that AGN play in changes of galaxy properties with time. The PIs also propose to strengthen their HyperSuprime Camera summer school, to prepare the next generation of researchers for the era of large surveys.