Collaborative Research: NSF-BSF: A Multiwavelength View of Extreme Accretion onto Supermassive Black Holes

NSF Award Search · 01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT · $190,545 · view on nsf.gov ↗

Abstract

Modern sky surveys are discovering a range of rare and dramatic variable phenomena associated with the supermassive black holes that sit at the heart of every galaxy. Deciphering these is crucial to advancing our understanding of how these black holes form and grow and how they interact with their host galaxies and beyond. The PI's team will carry out a systematic study of these extreme events combining infrared, optical, ultraviolet, and X-ray data from national observatories. This program will support graduate and undergraduate students and will equip them with expertise in high performance computing and statistics—required tools for analyzing the data from these big surveys. The team will translate their work to museum installations that make black holes and their environments accessible to a larger audience. Extreme transient events associated with supermassive black holes can be used as probes of accretion physics, black hole properties and growth, and their environments. This multiwavelength study will be able to determine the nature of these extreme accretion events, their emission mechanisms, and the dynamics governing their rates. The team will characterize the multiwavelength properties of transients in galaxy centers and compare them with existing models. Of particular focus will be mapping the full host-galaxy preferences for such events, including obscured population, and their connections to active galactic nuclei. The team will measure the late-time platea

Key facts

NSF award ID
2510422
Awardee
California Institute of Technology (CA)
SAM.gov UEI
U2JMKHNS5TG4
PI
Matthew Graham
Primary program
01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
All programs
NSF and US-Israel Binational Science Fou, OBSERVATIONAL ASTRONOMY
Estimated total
$190,545
Funds obligated
$190,545
Transaction type
Standard Grant
Period
09/01/2025 → 08/31/2028