Michael Gibbons - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
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Papers by Michael Gibbons
Active Galactic Nuclei are still somewhat of an enigma; young, bright galaxies with a large range... more Active Galactic Nuclei are still somewhat of an enigma; young, bright galaxies with a large range of redshifts. The high luminosity characteristics of the active galactic nucleus are attributable to accretion of gas and dust into a supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy. Our current research is focused on gas outflows from the active galactic nucleus (AGN). These outflows are identified by broad absorption lines in the spectra of AGN. Current multi-epoch observations of many active galactic nuclei (AGN) have resulted in broad absorption lines that appear and disappear over time. Current observations show that these outflows have speeds up to 0.2c. Our team's ultimate goal is to understand the mechanism that drives quasar outflows and characterize the broad spectral absorption lines, as well as why the outflows are variable. We present a study on PG 1126-041, a Seyfert galaxy with an active nucleus for which we have obtained data through Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and X-ray Multi-Mirror-Newton (XMM). PG 1126-041 is a low redshift (z=0.06), luminous Seyfert galaxy which displays very variable X-ray absorption. We will show results of the variability study of coordinated X-ray and UV-optical observations of PG 1126-041 (using data from XMM and HST respectively), searching for possible trends between variable X-ray absorption from the AGN, and the outflows characterized by variable broad absorption lines that we are attempting to study.
Active Galactic Nuclei are still somewhat of an enigma; young, bright galaxies with a large range... more Active Galactic Nuclei are still somewhat of an enigma; young, bright galaxies with a large range of redshifts. The high luminosity characteristics of the active galactic nucleus are attributable to accretion of gas and dust into a supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy. Our current research is focused on gas outflows from the active galactic nucleus (AGN). These outflows are identified by broad absorption lines in the spectra of AGN. Current multi-epoch observations of many active galactic nuclei (AGN) have resulted in broad absorption lines that appear and disappear over time. Current observations show that these outflows have speeds up to 0.2c. Our team's ultimate goal is to understand the mechanism that drives quasar outflows and characterize the broad spectral absorption lines, as well as why the outflows are variable. We present a study on PG 1126-041, a Seyfert galaxy with an active nucleus for which we have obtained data through Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and X-ray Multi-Mirror-Newton (XMM). PG 1126-041 is a low redshift (z=0.06), luminous Seyfert galaxy which displays very variable X-ray absorption. We will show results of the variability study of coordinated X-ray and UV-optical observations of PG 1126-041 (using data from XMM and HST respectively), searching for possible trends between variable X-ray absorption from the AGN, and the outflows characterized by variable broad absorption lines that we are attempting to study.