Dr. Kelly Denney is awarded an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out a program of research and education at The Ohio State University. The Fellow plans to improve our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution by focusing on the impact and role of supermassive black holes (BHs) and their growth rates across cosmic time. The connection between BH growth and galaxy evolution can be studied in active galactic nuclei (AGNs)---systems in which the central supermassive BH is actively accreting matter. Here, the BH mass and accretion rate can be measured, and the connection to the host galaxy evolution can be judged through feedback processes and the relation of BH and galaxy properties.
The Fellow's primary goal is to recalibrate the Mg II- and C IV-based AGN BH mass scales---on which all high-redshift BH masses are based---by taking into account recently discovered systematic uncertainties in these masses. This program will also characterize the observed emission-line, spectral energy distribution, and radio characteristics of the sample to investigate the creation of intrinsic reddening and inclination indicators applicable to all types of AGNs. Finally, time will be spent initiating a series of future reverberation mapping monitoring programs out to a redshift of around 2 for measuring BH masses and AGN distances.
The broader impacts of this project include a significant educational component. The fellow will undertake a program of educational outreach with two components: (1) delivering to the Columbus-area schools an inquiry-based astronomy curriculum targeting the 6th--10th grades that aims to improve both teacher and student attitudes and competence in STEM fields, and (2) a telescope lending library available to public schools and other groups for use in the classroom and evening observing activities.
