9519(  1) - 12/06/01 12:32  - [  1]

    PROPOSAL FOR HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE OBSERVATIONS   ST ScI Use Only
                                                       ID:      9519
                                                       Version: 1
                                                       Check-in Date: 06-Dec-2001
                                                                      11:43:53

1.Proposal Title:
Simulating Galaxies with Supermassive Black Holes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Proposal For  3. Cycle
AR               11
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Investigators
                                                                                     Contact?
    PI: David Merritt                     Rutgers University
   CoI: Dr. Marc Hemsendorf               Rutgers University                            N
   CoI: Dr. Fidel Cruz                    Rutgers University                            N
   CoI: Mr. Milos Milosavljevic           Rutgers University                            N

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Abstract

Nuclei of roughly 130 galaxies have been or will be observed with STIS within the
next few years with the goal of detecting supermassive black holes. About 1/2 of
these data sets will consist of stellar absorption-line spectra. The research
proposed here is directed toward understanding what such data can tell us about the
formation histories of galactic nuclei and nuclear black holes. The structure and
kinematics of galactic nuclei are fossil relics of the merger histories of galaxies
and of the interaction between supermassive black holes and stars. For instance,
black holes form bound pairs during galaxy mergers, which then eject stars via the
gravitational slingshot, radically altering the structure of nuclei. Preliminary
work indicates that many of the systematic properties of nuclei are explainable by
interactions between single or binary black holes and stars. However simulations
with existing N-body codes are severely limited in terms of the number of particles
they can treat in a reasonable time. The main budget item would be a GRAPE-6 special
-purpose computer which would be used in combination with novel N-body algorithms to
permit a systematic study of black-hole nuclei using galaxy models containing up to
10^6 stars.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                9519(  1) - 12/06/01 12:32  - [  2]

            Summary Form for Proposal  9519

  Item                         Used in this proposal
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Proposal Category            AR
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------