Assigned ID: 234 ----- Attempting Submission 1 (Thu Feb 23 22:48:32 GMT 2012) ----- The fueling, growth and feedback of supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies have become central topics in galaxy formation studies. But despite significant observational efforts, the drivers of nuclear activity remain elusive. We propose a comprehensive archival study of nuclear activity in elliptical galaxies, using a novel combination of data from HST and SDSS. We will compile a catalog of about 2000 extragalactic objects which have both SDSS spectroscopic data and high-quality HST imaging data -- a valuable community resource. Within this sample we expect approximately 100 galaxies with old stellar populations, but with activity in their nuclei, and we will select 100 inactive galaxies with the same distribution along the fundamental plane. These objects represent ideal laboratories for testing theoretical paradigms of black hole fueling: as old galaxies contain little gas, one might expect those that feature an active nucleus to have had to collect the gas from galaxy-wide scales through non-axisymmetries in their potentials. We will provide a definitive test of this hypothesis by conducting detailed analyses of HST images of active and inactive galaxies, and by testing for relations between the incidence and power of nuclear activity and the structure of the host galaxy. Our study, probing scales down to 100 pc over a wide range of nuclear activity, will illuminate a critical gap in our understanding of galaxy and black hole growth. AGN/QUASARS 12 Medium false 0.0 0.0 false false false false SUPPORTED