THE DISCOVERY OF A NUMBER OF BLACK HOLE (BH) GALAXY RELATIONS HAS SHOWN THAT THE GROWTH OF SUPERMASSIVE BHS IS CLOSELY RELATED TO THE EVOLUTION OF GALAXIES. THIS EVIDENCE HAS OPENED A NEW DEBATE IN WHICH THE FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS CONCERN THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE CENTRAL BH AND THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM (ISM) WITHIN THE HOST GALAXY AND CAN BE ADDRESSED BY STUDYING TWO CRUCIAL PROCESSES: FEEDING AND FEEDBACK. THESE TWO PROCESSES ARE NOW A PARADIGM OF GALAXY EVOLUTION MODELS AT ALL REDSHIFTS BUT THEIR IMPLEMENTATION REMAINS SIMPLISTIC. THIS IS BECAUSE OBSERVATIONS HAVE FOCUSED ON THE QUESTION OF WHERE THE INFLOWING MATERIAL ORIGINATES (MERGERS VERSUS SECULAR EVOLUTION) RATHER THAN ON HOW THE MATERIAL ACTUALLY FLOWS TOWARDS THE BH ON THE<100 PC SPATIAL SCALES RELEVANT TO THE TIME SCALES OF THE ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS (AGN) LIFETIME. SINCE THESE SMALL SCALES CANNOT BE SPATIALLY RESOLVED AT Z>1 IT IS NEARBY GALAXIES THAT O?FFER THE ONLY OPPORTUNITY TO CHARACTERIZE THE INFLOW AND OUTFLOW PROCESSES IN DETAIL AND TEST THE PRESCRIPTIONS USED IN MODELS OF GALAXY AND BH CO-EVOLUTION. TO PROVIDE THE MUCH NEEDED GUIDANCE TO THEORETICAL MODELS ON WHAT PROCESSES ARE DICTATING THE CO-EVOLUTION OF BHS AND THEIR HOST GALAXIES THE KECK OSIRIS NEARBY AGN (KONA) SURVEY WILL INVESTIGATE THE SURROUNDING REGIONS OF AGN AND SHED LIGHT ON THE PHYSICAL PROCESSES WITHIN 200 PC FROM THE CENTRAL BH. SPECIFICALLY THE RESEARCH PROGRAM WILL ADDRESS THE FOLLOWING FUNDAMENTAL SCIENTIFIC QUESTIONS: (I) WHICH MECHANISMS ARE IMPORTANT FOR BRINGING GAS TO THE ENVIRONS OF THE BH AND WHAT ARE THE INFLOW RATES? AND (II) WHAT IS THE ROLE OF AGN-DRIVEN OUTFLOWS OF IONIZED GAS IN PROVIDING ENERGY INTO THE ISM OF THE HOST GALAXY CAN THEY STRIP THE ISM AWAY FROM AROUND THE BH AND DISRUPT STAR FORMATION? THE PROPOSED PROGRAM PROVIDES A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH TO ADDRESSING THESE ISSUES IN DEPTH BY FOCUSING ON A COMPLETE SAMPLE OF NEARBY AGN THAT SPANS SEVERAL ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE IN BOTH LUMINOSITY AND EDDINGTON RATIO OF THE AGN. THE OBSERVATIONS CONSIST OF ADAPTIVE OPTICS ASSISTED NEAR-IR INTEGRAL-FIELD SPECTROSCOPY WITH THE INSTRUMENT OSIRIS AT THE KECK OBSERVATORY OBTAINED OVER THE LAST NINE YEARS. THE KONA TEAM HAS DEMONSTRATED SUCCESS IN ACQUIRING AND INTERPRETING THE REQUIRED HIGH SPATIAL RESOLUTION TWO-DIMENSIONAL KINEMATIC DATA AS WELL AS EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE IN MODELING THESE KINEMATICS BOTH STELLAR AND GAS. HIGH QUALITY KECK HST SPITZER AND 2MASS DATA FOR THE FULL SAMPLE OF 40 SEYFERT GALAXIES HAVE ALREADY BEEN OBTAINED AND PROCESSED THEREFORE INTERPRETATION OF THE DATA AND MODELING WILL BEGIN IMMEDIATELY. BRINGING ALL THESE ASPECTS TOGETHER WILL LEAD TO MAJOR ADVANCES IN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF FEEDING AND FEEDBACK IN AGN. THE PRIMARY EMPHASIS OF THIS PROJECT IS THE ANALYSIS OF MULTIWAVELENGTH ARCHIVAL DATA FROM SEVERAL NASA MISSIONS WHICH IS ALIGNED WITH THE GOALS OF THE ASTROPHYSICS DATA ANALYSIS PROGRAM. THIS PROJECT WILL ADVANCE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE COEVOLUTION OF BHS AND GALAXIES AND THE RESULTS OF OUR STUDY WILL PROMOTE THE NASA COSMIC ORIGINS PROGRAM IN ONE OF ITS OBJECTIVES WHICH IS TO UNDERSTAND HOW GALAXIES EVOLVE.
$59,516FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
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