Towards dynamical black hole masses at cosmic noon
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Southampton
Department Name: Sch of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
GRAVITY+ is an upgraded instrument at ESO's VLT that revolutionises the capabilities of optical/infrared interferometry and opens up milli- and micro-arcsecond resolution to new science areas. We are leading the consortium efforts to determine the masses of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at cosmic noon via dynamical measurements of the gas kinematics around quasars. We request re- sources to support these measurements by (1) improving the differential phase accuracy using the upgraded hardware and observing modes, and (2) quantifying the systematic uncertainty in the dynamical SMBH mass recovery method from differential phases. This will overcome limitations in current methods and will let us pin down the accretion history of SMBHs.
Organisations
Publications
Nowak M
(2024)
Upgrading the GRAVITY fringe tracker for GRAVITY+ Tracking the white-light fringe in the non-observable optical path length state-space
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
| Description | GRAVITY+ |
| Organisation | European Southern Observatory (ESO) |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Consortium partner and Co-I institution of this new ESO instrument |
| Collaborator Contribution | New instrument for the ESO VLTI |
| Impact | Instrument to be delivered in phases from 2022 to 2025 |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | GRAVITY+ |
| Organisation | Max Planck Society |
| Department | Max Planck Institute For Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Consortium partner and Co-I institution of this new ESO instrument |
| Collaborator Contribution | New instrument for the ESO VLTI |
| Impact | Instrument to be delivered in phases from 2022 to 2025 |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | GRAVITY+ |
| Organisation | Max Planck Society |
| Department | Max Planck Institute for Astronomy |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Consortium partner and Co-I institution of this new ESO instrument |
| Collaborator Contribution | New instrument for the ESO VLTI |
| Impact | Instrument to be delivered in phases from 2022 to 2025 |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | GRAVITY+ |
| Organisation | Observatory of Paris |
| Department | Laboratory for Space Science and Astrophysical Instrumentation |
| Country | France |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Consortium partner and Co-I institution of this new ESO instrument |
| Collaborator Contribution | New instrument for the ESO VLTI |
| Impact | Instrument to be delivered in phases from 2022 to 2025 |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | GRAVITY+ |
| Organisation | University of Cologne |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Consortium partner and Co-I institution of this new ESO instrument |
| Collaborator Contribution | New instrument for the ESO VLTI |
| Impact | Instrument to be delivered in phases from 2022 to 2025 |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | GRAVITY+ |
| Organisation | University of Grenoble |
| Department | Institute for Planetary sciences and Astrophysics Grenoble (IPAG) |
| Country | France |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Consortium partner and Co-I institution of this new ESO instrument |
| Collaborator Contribution | New instrument for the ESO VLTI |
| Impact | Instrument to be delivered in phases from 2022 to 2025 |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | GRAVITY+ |
| Organisation | University of Porto |
| Department | Department of Physics and Astronomy |
| Country | Portugal |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Consortium partner and Co-I institution of this new ESO instrument |
| Collaborator Contribution | New instrument for the ESO VLTI |
| Impact | Instrument to be delivered in phases from 2022 to 2025 |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Title | GRAVITY/GRAVITY+ data reduction pipeline |
| Description | Data reduction software for data obtained by the GRAVITY/GRAVITY+ instrument at ESO's VLTI. |
| Type Of Technology | Software |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Open Source License? | Yes |
| Impact | Every GRAVITY/GRAVITY+ observer and archival researcher will make use of data products from this software. |