The goal of this collaborative project is to continue an on-going and successful program of frequent monitoring of the variability in quasar continuum emission and the response of the characteristic broad emission lines to those variations. This provides a probe of the size of the emitting regions, their velocities via the line profiles, and allows an estimate of the mass of the central super-massive black hole. This "reverberation mapping" method is the primary way of measuring the masses of black holes in the central regions of active galaxies out to high redshifts.

Broader impacts of the work include training of undergraduate and graduate students, and postdocs. Public outreach includes involvement in the COSMOS high school summer science teaching program.

Agency
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Institute
Division of Astronomical Sciences (AST)
Type
Standard Grant (Standard)
Application #
1108835
Program Officer
Richard Barvainis
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2011-07-01
Budget End
2015-06-30
Support Year
Fiscal Year
2011
Total Cost
$344,854
Indirect Cost
Name
University of California Irvine
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Irvine
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
92697