The Roles of the Mid-infrared and Surveys in The Life and Times of Quasars
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Edinburgh
Department Name: Sch of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
Black holes are intriguing objects. These regions of the Universe where mass is so dense, and gravity so strong, that even light cannot escape, were once thought mere oddities due to their extreme properties. Today, however, black holes are now thought to be vital in the formation and lives of galaxies, including our own Milky Way.
Observations, including those from the Hubble Space Telescope, have discovered black holes with masses a million or more times that of the Sun lurking at the centres of nearby galaxies. However, upon analysing these data further, there are two very surprising findings. First, these aptly named "Supermassive Black Holes" are ubiquitous at the centres of galaxies, and second, there is a relationship between the mass of the black hole and the properties of the galaxy.
Thus, the question arises, do black holes have an intimate relationship with their host galaxy? Do they inform, limit and influence how a galaxy - including its constituent stars and gas - forms and evolves? One possible line of evidence supporting the idea that black holes "regulate" their host galaxies is when one considers the energy liberated by mass falling into the black holes potential well.
As gas and dust fall towards a black hole, but before it gets "swallowed", an accretion disk can form which swirls around the black hole, feeding it. However, due to the intense gravitational fields, the large amounts of angular momentum, and friction between the infalling layers of gas, the accretion disk can heat-up to tremendous temperatures, in the process emitting optical, ultra-violet and X-ray light. If a supermassive black hole at the centre of a galaxy is actively accreting, then this "active galactic nucleus" is termed a quasar.
The broad aim of my research is to discover and study quasars; to find out how they are fueled, how they generate their energy and how they can influence the host galaxies they live in.
I use several telescopes across a range of wavelengths, including data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the Hubble Space Telescope in the optical, and the Spitzer Space Telescope and the WISE satellite in the infrared. The infrared is important since quasars emit a considerable amount of their energy at these wavelengths, and one goal is to make sure we account fully for the entire energy production from supermassive black holes.
It is with the data from these great observatories that I will discover and examine quasars, test theoretical and computer models of how quasars are fueled, and gain new insights into how the galaxy-quasar symbiosis is achieved.
This research has potential impact and wider benefits to society in two flavours. First, the direct technological spin-offs that are associated with e.g. space-based telescopes and detector technology. Second, and less tangible, but more importantly, this type of research, keeps the "awe" factor high. And it is this resource, from which "improving natural knowledge" subsequently flows.
Observations, including those from the Hubble Space Telescope, have discovered black holes with masses a million or more times that of the Sun lurking at the centres of nearby galaxies. However, upon analysing these data further, there are two very surprising findings. First, these aptly named "Supermassive Black Holes" are ubiquitous at the centres of galaxies, and second, there is a relationship between the mass of the black hole and the properties of the galaxy.
Thus, the question arises, do black holes have an intimate relationship with their host galaxy? Do they inform, limit and influence how a galaxy - including its constituent stars and gas - forms and evolves? One possible line of evidence supporting the idea that black holes "regulate" their host galaxies is when one considers the energy liberated by mass falling into the black holes potential well.
As gas and dust fall towards a black hole, but before it gets "swallowed", an accretion disk can form which swirls around the black hole, feeding it. However, due to the intense gravitational fields, the large amounts of angular momentum, and friction between the infalling layers of gas, the accretion disk can heat-up to tremendous temperatures, in the process emitting optical, ultra-violet and X-ray light. If a supermassive black hole at the centre of a galaxy is actively accreting, then this "active galactic nucleus" is termed a quasar.
The broad aim of my research is to discover and study quasars; to find out how they are fueled, how they generate their energy and how they can influence the host galaxies they live in.
I use several telescopes across a range of wavelengths, including data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the Hubble Space Telescope in the optical, and the Spitzer Space Telescope and the WISE satellite in the infrared. The infrared is important since quasars emit a considerable amount of their energy at these wavelengths, and one goal is to make sure we account fully for the entire energy production from supermassive black holes.
It is with the data from these great observatories that I will discover and examine quasars, test theoretical and computer models of how quasars are fueled, and gain new insights into how the galaxy-quasar symbiosis is achieved.
This research has potential impact and wider benefits to society in two flavours. First, the direct technological spin-offs that are associated with e.g. space-based telescopes and detector technology. Second, and less tangible, but more importantly, this type of research, keeps the "awe" factor high. And it is this resource, from which "improving natural knowledge" subsequently flows.
People |
ORCID iD |
Nicholas Ross (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
Publications
Alam S
(2017)
The clustering of galaxies in the completed SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: cosmological analysis of the DR12 galaxy sample
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Alam S
(2015)
THE ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH DATA RELEASES OF THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY: FINAL DATA FROM SDSS-III
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Alam Shadab
(2016)
The clustering of galaxies in the completed SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: cosmological analysis of the DR12 galaxy sample
in ArXiv e-prints
Alexandroff R
(2018)
Spectropolarimetry of high-redshift obscured and red quasars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Aubourg É
(2015)
Cosmological implications of baryon acoustic oscillation measurements
in Physical Review D
Bautista J
(2017)
Measurement of baryon acoustic oscillation correlations at z = 2.3 with SDSS DR12 Ly a -Forests
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Bautista Julian E.
(2017)
Measurement of BAO correlations at $z=2.3$ with SDSS DR12 \lya-Forests
in ArXiv e-prints
Beutler F
(2014)
The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: signs of neutrino mass in current cosmological data sets
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Beutler F
(2017)
The clustering of galaxies in the completed SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: baryon acoustic oscillations in the Fourier space
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Beutler F
(2017)
The clustering of galaxies in the completed SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: anisotropic galaxy clustering in Fourier space
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bruce A
(2020)
Behaviour of the Mg ii 2798 Å line over the full range of AGN variability
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Buchner J
(2015)
OBSCURATION-DEPENDENT EVOLUTION OF ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI
in The Astrophysical Journal
Comparat J
(2015)
The 0.1 < z < 1.65 evolution of the bright end of the [O ii] luminosity function
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Croft R
(2016)
Large-scale clustering of Lyman a emission intensity from SDSS/BOSS
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cuesta A
(2016)
The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: baryon acoustic oscillations in the correlation function of LOWZ and CMASS galaxies in Data Release 12
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Delubac T
(2015)
Baryon acoustic oscillations in the Ly a forest of BOSS DR11 quasars
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
DESI Collaboration DESI
(2016)
The DESI Experiment Part II: Instrument Design
in arXiv e-prints
DESI Collaboration DESI
(2016)
The DESI Experiment Part I: Science,Targeting, and Survey Design
in arXiv e-prints
Dey Arjun
(2018)
Overview of the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys
in arXiv e-prints
Du Mas Des Bourboux H
(2017)
Baryon acoustic oscillations from the complete SDSS-III Ly a -quasar cross-correlation function at z = 2.4
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Eftekharzadeh S
(2015)
Clustering of intermediate redshift quasars using the final SDSS III-BOSS sample
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Eftekharzadeh Sarah
(2016)
Quasar clustering at intermediate redshift - Analysis of systematics and of luminosity effects
in American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #227
Filiz Ak N.
(2017)
VizieR Online Data Catalog: C IV BAL troughs properties in quasars (Filiz+, 2014)
in VizieR Online Data Catalog
Font-Ribera A
(2014)
Quasar-Lyman a forest cross-correlation from BOSS DR11: Baryon Acoustic Oscillations
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Geach J
(2015)
The Red Radio Ring: a gravitationally lensed hyperluminous infrared radio galaxy at z = 2.553 discovered through the citizen science project Space Warps
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Geach J
(2017)
VICS82: The VISTA-CFHT Stripe 82 Near-infrared Survey
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Georgakakis A
(2015)
The X-ray luminosity function of active galactic nuclei in the redshift interval z =3-5
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Graham M
(2020)
Understanding extreme quasar optical variability with CRTS - II. Changing-state quasars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Graham Matthew
(2019)
Changing-state quasars in the Catalina Real-time Transient Survey and beyond
in American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #233
Hamann F
(2017)
Extremely red quasars in BOSS
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Hamann F.
(2018)
VizieR Online Data Catalog: Extremely red quasars in BOSS (Hamann+, 2017)
in VizieR Online Data Catalog
Ho S
(2015)
Sloan Digital Sky Survey III photometric quasar clustering: probing the initial conditions of the Universe
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Krawczyk C
(2016)
ERRATUM: "MINING FOR DUST IN TYPE 1 QUASARS" (2015, AJ, 149, 203)
in The Astronomical Journal
Krawczyk C
(2015)
MINING FOR DUST IN TYPE 1 QUASARS
in The Astronomical Journal
LaMassa Stephanie
(2019)
X-ray & WISE AGN in the 37 deg2 SDSS-IV eBOSS Survey of Stripe 82
in American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #233
LaMassa Stephanie M.
(2019)
SDSS-IV eBOSS Spectroscopy of X-ray and WISE AGN in Stripe 82X: Overview of the Demographics of X-ray and Mid-Infrared Selected Active Galactic Nuclei
in arXiv e-prints
MacLeod C
(2016)
A systematic search for changing-look quasars in SDSS
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
MacLeod Chelsea L.
(2019)
Changing-Look Quasar Candidates: First Results from Follow-up Spectroscopy
in American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #233
MacLeod Chelsea L.
(2018)
Changing-Look Quasar Candidates: First Results from Follow-up Spectroscopy of Highly Optically Variable Quasars
in arXiv e-prints
McKernan B
(2019)
Ram-pressure Stripping of a Kicked Hill Sphere: Prompt Electromagnetic Emission from the Merger of Stellar Mass Black Holes in an AGN Accretion Disk
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Palanque-Delabrouille N
(2015)
Constraint on neutrino masses from SDSS-III/BOSS Lya forest and other cosmological probes
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Paris I.
(2017)
VizieR Online Data Catalog: SDSS quasar catalog: twelfth data release (Paris+, 2017)
in VizieR Online Data Catalog
Pattarakijwanich P
(2016)
THE EVOLUTION OF POST-STARBURST GALAXIES FROM z ~ 1 TO THE PRESENT
in The Astrophysical Journal
Pattarakijwanich P.
(2017)
VizieR Online Data Catalog: 0.02<z<1.4 post-starburst SDSS galaxies (Pattarakijwanich+, 2016)
in VizieR Online Data Catalog
Peters C
(2015)
QUASAR CLASSIFICATION USING COLOR AND VARIABILITY
in The Astrophysical Journal
Pâris I
(2017)
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Catalog: Twelfth data release
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Richards G
(2015)
BAYESIAN HIGH-REDSHIFT QUASAR CLASSIFICATION FROM OPTICAL AND MID-IR PHOTOMETRY
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Ross N
(2020)
The near and mid-infrared photometric properties of known redshift z = 5 quasars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ross N
(2015)
Extremely red quasars from SDSS, BOSS and WISE : classification of optical spectra
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ross N
(2018)
A new physical interpretation of optical and infrared variability in quasars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Description | New analysis techniques for studying astronomical infrared data. |
Exploitation Route | Our analysis could be adapted and used for other applications that image manipulating large amounts of imaging data, or understanding the infrared properties of (non-astronomical) objects. |
Sectors | Aerospace Defence and Marine Agriculture Food and Drink Chemicals Communities and Social Services/Policy Construction Creative Economy Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Education Electronics Energy Environment Healthcare Government Democracy and Justice Culture Heritage Museums and Collections Transport Other |
URL | http://www.roe.ac.uk/~npross/ |
Description | Scots for Science |
Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
Description | LBNL Observing |
Amount | $2,000 (USD) |
Organisation | Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory |
Sector | Public |
Country | United States |
Start | 12/2015 |
End | 01/2016 |
Description | LSST:UK Travel Scheme |
Amount | £2,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | LSST Corporation |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United States |
Start | 02/2019 |
End | 02/2019 |
Title | My Research Tools & Methods |
Description | https://github.com/d80b2t |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2016 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | https://github.com/d80b2t |
URL | https://github.com/d80b2t |
Description | Revolutionary Quasar Science with the JWST |
Organisation | JWST-MIRI European Consortium |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | I start the "Revolutionary Quasar Science with the JWST" programme and collaboration. |
Collaborator Contribution | All contributions are documented here: https://github.com/d80b2t/JWST_ERS |
Impact | All outputs are documented here: https://github.com/d80b2t/JWST_ERS |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | The 2dF-Spitzer Quasar Redshift Survey |
Organisation | Drexel University |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We/I P.I.'ed the project. |
Collaborator Contribution | Initial proposal writing; travel to take data; data analysis; experimental log keeping; publication of results and interpretation. |
Impact | Academic peer-reviewed journals. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | The 2dF-Spitzer Quasar Redshift Survey |
Organisation | Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory |
Country | United States |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | We/I P.I.'ed the project. |
Collaborator Contribution | Initial proposal writing; travel to take data; data analysis; experimental log keeping; publication of results and interpretation. |
Impact | Academic peer-reviewed journals. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | The 2dF-Spitzer Quasar Redshift Survey |
Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We/I P.I.'ed the project. |
Collaborator Contribution | Initial proposal writing; travel to take data; data analysis; experimental log keeping; publication of results and interpretation. |
Impact | Academic peer-reviewed journals. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | The 2dF-Spitzer Quasar Redshift Survey |
Organisation | University of Wyoming |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We/I P.I.'ed the project. |
Collaborator Contribution | Initial proposal writing; travel to take data; data analysis; experimental log keeping; publication of results and interpretation. |
Impact | Academic peer-reviewed journals. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Title | My Analysis Code |
Description | My Analysis Code. |
Type Of Technology | Software |
Year Produced | 2016 |
Open Source License? | Yes |
Impact | Multiple research papers. |
URL | https://github.com/d80b2t/ |
Description | ROE Open DAy |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | 2015 ROE Open Days "Weird New Worlds" The ROE Open Days for 2015 took place over the weekend of the 26th and 27th of September. The theme this year was Weird New Worlds We had over 3000 visitors over the weekend. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://www.stfc.ac.uk/news-events-and-publications/events/stfc-events/royal-observatory-edinburgh-op... |
Description | ROE Open Day Sep 2016 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Help at the ROE Open Day. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |