Other
Scientific paper
Sep 2004
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004sptz.prop.3187v&link_type=abstract
Spitzer Proposal ID #3187
Other
Scientific paper
We wish to study in detail the basic physical processes involved in creating massive early type hosts on the one hand, and growing/feeding embedded massive black holes on the other hand, in major galaxy mergers. This is an important question since 50% of cosmic star formation at high-z and most of the big BHs appear to be formed in this process, which we need to better understand in a local laboratory, in order to apply this knowledge to high z. We want to test the `Sanders' (1988) scenario that massive ellipticals as well as QSO-like (> 10^8 Msun) black holes are formed when two big, gas rich galaxies merge. We want to understand how and at what rate during the various stages of the merger black holes are fed and grow in mass. We want to verify whether the output BHs are typical of QSOs and whether this process adheres to the local BHmass-sigma relationship. Our approach is unique and goes much beyond the proposed GTO and Legacy programs in this area. Taking an unbiased set of 54 local Universe active mergers and QSOs, we first need to fully understand the structural properties of each galaxy merger as well as the time/phase at which we see it. This we get from our near-IR/optical data sets, which is the first such complete investigation. Then we need to assign to each system the amount of radiation/energy produced in star formation and BH accretion. This information we get (and only can obtain) from mid-IR spectroscopic data which will be acquired with SST. The SST data we propose to get for the first time allow obtaining the key fine-structure line diagnostics for a large sample, and for the first time, for QSOs. With our previous ISO spectroscopy we have pioneered the basic technique. Here we wish to apply these techniques to a full sample that allows the exploration of evolution.
Barnes Josh
Contursi Alessandra
Dasyra Kaliopi
Genzel Reinhard
Guyon Olivier
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