Erin Hicks
University of Alaska Anchorage, AK·Astronomy & Astrophysics
Nearly every large galaxy has a supermassive black hole at its center, and these black holes appear to shape how their galaxies form and change. Yet how a black hole and its host galaxy influence each other remains unknown.
- Fields
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Physics
- Topics
active galactic nuclei
supermassive black holes
galaxy evolution
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2027
What they work on
- Measure the distribution and motions of molecular, ionized, and coronal gas within the central 500 parsecs of 90 nearby active galactic nuclei, using adaptive-optics near-infrared integral-field spectroscopy from Keck/OSIRIS and VLT/SINFONI.
- Map the distribution and motions of stars near the central black holes to reveal how material flows inward and fuels black hole growth.
- Assess how black hole activity influences the surrounding galaxy and use the measurements to constrain dynamic models of the obscuring torus around active nuclei.
More about the research
Theoretical models must rely on broad assumptions because there are few direct observations of the region close to a growing black hole. Only nearby galaxies can be seen in enough detail to study this region on the timescales over which a black hole actively feeds.
Why it matters
This is basic astrophysics. It will supply measurements that theoretical models of galaxy evolution currently lack, in place of assumptions about how supermassive black holes feed and how they affect their host galaxies. These data could help explain the observed links between black holes and the galaxies that contain them.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Vivian U-
California Institute of Technology, CA·Astronomy & Astrophysics
Map hot ionized and warm molecular gas in a representative sample of merging (U)LIRG galaxies using new Keck and JWST integral-field spectroscopy, which records a spectrum at every point of an image.
Adi Foord
University of Maryland-Baltimore County, MD·Astronomy & Astrophysics
Determine how often supermassive black holes merge by using AI to identify galaxy mergers and dual active galactic nuclei (pairs of feeding black holes) in large imaging surveys, and relate these rates to gravitational wave observations.
Philip Hopkins
California Institute of Technology, CA·Astronomy & Astrophysics
Develop new theoretical models of gas inflow onto supermassive black holes, in which strong magnetic fields dominate the accretion disk and change its behavior.
The school
University of Alaska Anchorage: 4 labs on PI Pages, $25M a year on research, 3 research doctorates a year.
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