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E. J. Hooper (UT Austin), ChaMP Collaboration
A vexing problem in AGN research is that their complex taxonomy & wide range of properties make it difficult to compile a broadly representative sample, particularly one containing obscured sources. The relatively recent results indicating that supermassive black holes may be entrenched in every galaxy bulge give added impetus to conducting a census of accretion power in the universe which is as comprehensive as possible.
Two new X-ray telescopes, Chandra & XMM, have increased X-ray survey capability by orders of magnitude, bringing X-ray selection to the fore as one of the preeminent methods for compiling deep, widely representative samples of AGN. A large serendipitous survey with Chandra is underway, the Chandra Multiwavelength Project (ChaMP; PI, B. Wilkes). The ChaMP reaches far deeper than previous wide-area surveys while covering much greater area than Chandra PI deep surveys. Chandra's combination of depth, hard X-ray sensitivity, positional accuracy, & large number of serendipitous sources makes ChaMP unique, and it will remain so for the foreseeable future.
Much of the scientific return of an X-ray AGN survey requires redshifts & source characterizations provided by spectroscopy, either of the active nucleus or, if it is too obscured, the host galaxy. A program is underway, under the aegis of the NSF Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, to obtain low-resolution spectra of hundreds of ChaMP sources with the 2.7 m telescope and the 9 m Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) at McDonald Observatory.
The NSF Fellowship also includes an education component. The author is working with an innovative new program at UT Austin for training science teachers, called UTeach, which addresses many problems in teacher recruitment, education, retention, and support. UTeach is a joint effort of the Colleges of Natural Science & Education, and the Austin school district. It trains future teachers well in math and science, gives them early and continuing field experience, and provides access to master teachers and a streamlined, focused education curriculum.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: ehooper@astro.as.utexas.edu
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 34
© 2002. The American Astronomical Soceity.