The Origin of Supermassive Black Holes

The origin of supermassive black holes with M_BH = 10^6 − 10^10 Msun remains a major outstanding issue in modern astrophysics. These monster black holes reside in the nuclei of essentially every massive galaxy including our Milky Way and power the most luminous objects at the edge of the observable Universe. However, directly observing the first “seed” black holes in the earlier Universe - that can eventually grow to upwards of a billion solar masses - is not feasible with current telescopes. Present-day dwarf galaxies, on the other hand, are within observational reach and offer another avenue to learn about black hole seeds since low-mass galaxies can host relatively pristine black holes with M_BH <10^6 Msun.

The primary goal of the proposed work is to advance our understanding of the birth and growth of supermassive black holes. In particular, the major scientific goals of this project are to (1) systematically search for supermassive black holes in dwarf galaxies using multi-wavelength observations and a variety of techniques, (2) characterize the least-massive galaxies that can form a supermassive black hole, (3) measure the masses of the smallest black holes to constrain seed masses, (4) determine the accretion and radiative properties of low-mass black holes in dwarf galaxies, and (5) probe black hole feedback in dwarf galaxies to inform galaxy formation models at all mass scales. Ultimately, this work will improve our understanding of black holes in dwarf galaxies and the mechanism that seeded the first black holes in the earlier Universe. The proposed study is closely aligned with the goals of the NASA Astrophysics Division within the Science Mission Directorate (SMD), and contains cutting-edge and innovative research that NASA currently wants performed. The proposed work is of direct relevance to NASA's strategic mission to expand human knowledge through new scientific discoveries, with specific goals of understanding the nature of black holes and the origin and evolution of galaxies. Moreover, this project will exploit the exceptional capabilities of NASA's Great Observatories including the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The proposed research will also help lay the groundwork for future studies with NASA's next generation of powerful telescopes such as the James Webb Space Telescope.

Science-I Dr. Amy Reines, an Assistant Professor at Montana State University (Bozeman), will direct the proposed study. Dr. Reines is a leading expert in the field of black holes in dwarf galaxies and an experienced user of HST and Chandra. Moreover, our team consists of researchers with a wealth of expertise in astrophysics, mathematics, statistics and big data science, all of which will contribute to the overall success of the proposed work.

This study will also contribute to the research infrastructure, science and technology capabilities, and economic development of Montana. Through our interdisciplinary team and existing ties to NASA researchers, we will build new connections for NASA-related scientific research in Montana. Additionally, a NASA EPSCoR award will increase the number of Montana faculty (and students) working in NASA-related areas, and develop competitiveness for future NASA (and other) funding. Given the big data aspects of this proposal and student/postdoc training, there are also potential connections with Montana's high-tech industry and its need for data scientists. Finally, our proposal is aligned with Montana State University’s commitment to groundbreaking research and the Department of Physics strategic plan to advance our astrophysics focus.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

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