Quantifying the Stellar Mass in the Vicinity of Supermassive Black Holes

I propose to work with Dr. Erin Hicks beginning Fall 2019 through Spring 2020 from UAA on a research project to determine the radial profiles of the stellar light in the central kiloparsecs of local active galactic nuclei (AGN). This work will provide a better understanding of the role of black holes in galaxy evolution through providing a key input to modeling that will constrain the mass of the central supermassive black hole.
Based on the brightness of the stellar light distribution the stellar mass in the vicinity of the central black hole will be derived and this will then be used to characterize the gravitational potential within this region due to the circumnuclear stellar population. The goals of the Keck OSIRIS Nearby AGN (KONA) survey, and of this particular project, are highly relevant to NASA’s Cosmic Origins Program and to supporting primary science drivers for future NASA facilities, such as the James Webb Space Telescope.