Emmy-Noether research group:
"Coevolution of Galaxies and Black Holes"

An Emmy-Noether research group headed by Dr. Knud Jahnke and funded by the German Science Foundation DFG is in the buildup-phase at MPIA. The leading topic of the 5 year research plan (09/2007-08/2012) is the Coevolution of Galaxies and Black Holes.

In a number of projects the influence and interaction of the formation of supermassive black holes in the centers of massive galaxies on the surrounding galaxy is explored. The main aim is to constrain the relative interdependence of galaxy interactions, induced star formation, AGN activity and its effect on the migration of massive galaxies from. Keywords are: Starburst-merger-AGN connection and AGN feedback.

Projects

Individual projects are:

• Determining the Bulge- or stellar mass vs. Black Hole-mass relation of galaxies out to z>2 and constrain its evolution over 10 Gyrs using data from the GEMS and COSMOS galaxy surveys with the HST and Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics assisted Integral Field Spectroscopic data from SINFONI at ESO VLT.
• Studying the incidence of merging of galaxies for active galaxies in COSMOS in direct comparison to inactive galaxies as a function of redshift, luminosity and environment. A crucial aspect is finding the limits of which degree of interaction can actually be seen in HST images as a function of time since a galaxy merger.
• Studying the incidence, mass and ages of star-formation in AGN host galaxies as a function of galaxy luminosity, morphology and signs of interaction. We will use two spectroscopic datasets from FORS2 and the VIMOS IFU at ESO VLT.

Beside Knud Jahnke as lead, the group is consisting of

• Dr. Katherine Inskip, postdoctoral researcher (formerly Sheffield University, since 03/2008)
• Mauricio Cisternas, graduate student (from the Universidad Catolica in Santiago de Chile, since 08/2008)
• Dading Nugroho, graduate student (from the Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia, since 08/2008)
• René Andrae, graduate student (from University of Heidelberg, Germany, since 05/2009)