A 3-D View into the Connection and History of Galaxies and Active Galactic Nuclei

University Of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI

Investigators

Abstract

Part 1 This proposal attempts to probe past Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) activity in galaxies. Even if the construction of complete histories of both star formation and AGN are not possible for individual galaxies, the large statistical sample will place important constraints on the changing (or lack thereof) history of galaxies and their AGN. The 3-dimensional galaxy information obtained from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) IV's Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) project will vastly increase our understanding of the interplay of AGN and galaxies. Part 2 The goal of this proposal is to better understand the relationship of central supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and their host galaxies through the SMBHs active phases. This analysis requires three key elements: 1) the ability to trace a galaxy's history; 2) the ability to trace an Active Galactic Nuclei's (AGN's) history; and 3) a spatially resolved view of these systems, since not all relevant information about galaxies (extended vs. centrally concentrated star formation, large-scale outflows of gas, motions of stars and gas, ionization regions, etc.) or AGN (jets, radio lobes) is contained in the central core. Fulfilling all three elements for more than a handful of objects is possible only now through the confluence of two new large surveys: the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) IV's Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) project for spatially resolved properties of 10,000 galaxies and the Tata Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope Sky Survey (TGSS) to provide low frequency radio data covering the entire MaNGA survey region that will reveal past radio AGN activity. By combining data from these surveys and adding state-of-the-art simulations of the radio AGN, we will be able to place statistical constraints on the time histories of galaxies and their AGN. Specifically, the PIs will investigate the following overarching questions: (1) Do the star formation histories of galaxies, and their AGN activity histories, suggest they are connected and change together over time? (2) Do the spatially resolved galaxy properties show signs of AGN feedback leading to the stopping of star formation in the galaxies?