Principal Investigator Vincent L Fish
Co-investigator Colin Lonsdale
Project Website http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1614868&HistoricalAwards=false
Project Start Date September 2016
Project End Date August 2019
The team will study the jets of material that have been observed to emerge from supermassive black holes toward the center of some galaxies. They will observe these surprisingly narrow jets at millimeter wavelengths. The team will use Earth-spanning telescopes to achieve exquisite angular resolution. They will study the shapes of the jets and the plasma that surrounds the jets. They will also make computer simulations of the jets to help interpret the observations. Undergraduates will be involved in the research. The team will train high school students recruited from the Arecibo Observatory Space Academy in Puerto Rico. Visiting graduate students will obtain hands-on experience with instrumentation.
The team will use very long baseline interferometry at millimeter wavelengths to image distant jets with extremely-high angular resolution. Their chief tool is the cutting-edge Event Horizon Telescope. Their goals are to (1) study the acceleration and collimation zones of the jets, (2) study the plasmas within which the jets propagate, and (3) conduct magnetohydrodynamic simulations of jets as a framework for interpreting (1) and (2).