Project description
Solving the mysteries of supermassive black hole binaries
Across the vast expanse of the cosmos, nearly every galaxy hosts a supermassive black hole at its core, each millions to billions times larger than our Sun. When galaxies collide and merge, these behemoths amalgamate into supermassive black hole binaries that churn the galaxy’s gas and stars. The cosmic waltz of these binaries is posited as the primary contributor to the recently detected gravitational-wave background, yet their ultimate fate remains an astrophysical mystery. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the SwimmingGiants project will explore the evolution and observational signatures of these Leviathans. Nurturing expertise in numerical hydrodynamics and gravitational wave phenomena, the project will deepen our understanding of galactic evolution and anticipate imminent breakthroughs in multi-messenger astrophysics.
Objective
Nearly all galaxies in the universe harbor a super-massive black hole (SMBH)---with mass a million to a billion times that of our sun---in their core. When these galaxies merge, their super-massive black holes are brought together to form a super-massive black hole binary that interacts with the newly forming galaxy's stars and gas. A cosmic population of these super-massive binaries is hypothesized as the source for the gravitational wave background (GWB) detected for the first time this June. The full evolution and ultimate fate of these binaries, however, remains one of the most enduring mysteries in astrophysics. A key element to revealing the destinies of these binaries and unlocking their multi-messenger observational prospects is to understand their late-stage interactions with ambient gas in the nascent galactic nucleus. In the proposed research program, I will deploy state-of-the-art hydrodynamics simulations of the mutual interaction between compact super-massive binaries and their gaseous environments to develop cutting-edge models of gas-driven binary evolution and its associated observational signatures. These models will be essential to current and forthcoming electromagnetic and gravitational wave observations as the GWB detection (and upcoming LISA mission) open the floodgates on the next-generation of multi-messenger astrophysics and cosmology with super-massive binaries; just as the first LIGO detection did for their stellar-mass counterparts 8 years ago.
The Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen is the ideal location for me to pursue this research program because of their long-standing history and expertise in numerical hydrodynamics, astrophysical gas dynamics, and gravitational wave phenomena; and the Marie Curie Fellowship would enable substantial development of my skills as a researcher, educator, and communicator in order to achieve my goal of eventually leading an independent research group as a professor.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European FellowshipsCoordinator
1165 Kobenhavn
Denmark