Start year
2003
Grants related:
General
Description
PARSEC is a multi-wavelength investigation of the central PARSEC of the nearest galaxies. We work on black-hole accretion and its most energetic manifestations: jets and hot spots, and on its circumnuclear environment conditions for star formation. We resort to the highest available angular resolution observations from gamma-rays to the centimetre, and pursue a physical interpretation in the context of computational astrophysics. We also work on development of Adaptive Optics instrumentation for large telescopes. PARSEC projects are:
PARSEC - Black-Hole activity: The galaxies under study span a wide range of nuclear activity, from quiesent to low luminosity active nuclei to the Seyfert and Qso phase. PARSEC investigates the origin and morphology of dust and gas in the central parsec of active and normal galaxies, those being the pre-conditions for the onset of Black-Hole activity. The spectral energy distribution of the central few parsecs is investigated as a function of nuclear activity and accretion disc efficency. The nature and shape of the ionizing continuum are traced with high ionization coronal lines.
PARSEC - Jets and Hot-Spots: PARSEC further studies the most energetic manisfestations of Black-Hole activity: jets and hot-spots, in the PAIS project.
PARSEC -Star-formation: Nuclear star formation spatially resolved at cluster level is uncovered in many of these near galaxies. PARSEC investigates the properties of nuclear dust filaments, lanes and molecular clouds as pre-sites for star formation.
PARSEC - Theory: A physical insight of many of the PARSEC results is done via close collaboration with the Computational Astrophysics group, CAST, of the Munchen University Sternwarte, using numerical and magnetic-hydrodynamic simulations developped by this group.
PARSEC - Instrumentation: PARSEC is also involved in the definition, development and construction of Adaptive Optics instrumentation for 8 -10 m telescopes. PARSEC instrumentation team is building the first Adpative Optics Integral Field Spectrograph and Imaging Camera, FRIDA, for GTC 10 m teelcope.
PARSEC - Outreach: PARSEC is involved in the science and outreach "Vanishing and Appearing Sources during a Century of Observations (VASCO)" project. VASCO searches for vanishing stars, unusual astrophysical transients and extra-terrestrial intelligence. As such, it is a platform for interacting with the general public. VASCO has strong visibility in the media outets via its associated citizen science project.
Members
Principal investigator
Almudena
Prieto Escudero
Scientific activity
Related publications
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Evidence for Low-power Radio Jet-ISM Interaction at 10 pc in the Dwarf AGN Host NGC 4395Black-hole-driven outflows in galaxies hosting active galactic nuclei (AGN) may interact with their interstellar medium (ISM) affecting star formation (SF). Such feedback processes, reminiscent of those seen in massive galaxies, have been reported recently in some dwarf galaxies. However, such studies have usually been on kiloparsec and largerNandi, Payel et al.
Advertised on:
122023 -
Identification of Superclusters and Their Properties in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Using the WHL Cluster CatalogSuperclusters are the largest massive structures in the cosmic web, on tens to hundreds of megaparsec scales. They are the largest assembly of galaxy clusters in the Universe. Apart from a few detailed studies of such structures, their evolutionary mechanism is still an open question. In order to address and answer the relevant questions, aSankhyayan, Shishir et al.
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112023 -
A giant radio galaxy with three cycles of episodic jet activity from LoTSS DR2The excellent sensitivity and optimum resolution of LoTSS DR2 at 144 MHz has enabled us to discover a giant radio galaxy (J1225+4011) with three distinct episodes of jet activity, making it a member of a class of objects called triple-double radio galaxies (TDRGs). The source extends overall up to 1.35 Mpc in projected size, with the second episodeChavan, Kshitij et al.
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102023 -
The Accretion Mode in Sub-Eddington Supermassive Black Holes: Getting into the Central Parsecs of AndromedaThe inner kiloparsec regions surrounding sub-Eddington (luminosity less than 10 -3 in Eddington units, L Edd) supermassive black holes (BHs) often show a characteristic network of dust filaments that terminate in a nuclear spiral in the central parsecs. Here we study the role and fate of these filaments in one of the least accreting BHs known, M31Alig, C. et al.
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82023 -
The spectral index-flux density relation for extragalactic radio sources selected at metre and decametre wavelengthsWe use the recent releases of sensitive VLA/LOFAR large-area surveys at 340 MHz and 54 MHz, in conjunction with the 1.4 GHz NVSS, to accurately determine the `spectral index-flux density relation' (α − S) for extragalactic radio sources selected at metre and decametre wavelengths, with the latter explored for the first time. This newly determined αDabhade, Pratik et al.
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72023 -
Compact jets dominate the continuum emission in low-luminosity active galactic nucleiLow-luminosity active galactic nuclei (LLAGN) are special among their kind due to the profound structural changes that the central engine experiences at low accretion rates (≲ 10 −3 in Eddington units). The disappearance of the accretion disc - the blue bump - leaves behind a faint optical nuclear continuum whose nature has been largely debatedFernández-Ontiveros, J. A. et al.
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22023 -
Toward measuring supermassive black hole masses with interferometric observations of the dust continuumThis work focuses on active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and on the relation between the sizes of the hot dust continuum and the broad-line region (BLR). We find that the continuum size measured using optical/near-infrared interferometry (OI) is roughly twice that measured by reverberation mapping (RM). Both OI and RM continuum sizes show a tightGravity Collaboration et al.
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12023 -
Launching the VASCO Citizen Science ProjectThe Vanishing & Appearing Sources during a Century of Observations (VASCO) project investigates astronomical surveys spanning a time interval of 70 years, searching for unusual and exotic transients. We present herein the VASCO Citizen Science Project, which can identify unusual candidates driven by three different approaches: hypothesisLaaksoharju, Mikael et al.
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102022 -
The Cavity of 3CR 196.1: Hα Emission Spatially Associated with an X-Ray CavityWe present a multifrequency analysis of the radio galaxy 3CR 196.1 (z=0.198), associated with the brightest galaxy of the cool-core cluster CIZAJ0815.4-0303. This nearby radio galaxy shows a hybrid radio morphology and an X-ray cavity, all signatures of a turbulent past activity, potentially due to merger events and active galactic nuclei (AGN)Jimenez-Gallardo, A. et al.
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122022 -
A novel black hole mass scaling relation based on coronal gas, and its dependence with the accretion discUsing bona-fide black hole (BH) mass estimates from reverberation mapping and the line ratio [Si VI] 1.963$\rm{\mu m}$/Brγ broad as tracer of the AGN ionizing continuum, a novel BH-mass scaling relation of the form log(M BH) = (6.40 ± 0.17) - (1.99 ± 0.37) × log ([Si VI]/Brγ broad), dispersion 0.47 dex, over the BH mass interval, 10 6-10 8 M ⊙ isPrieto, Almudena et al.
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22022 -
A geometric distance to the supermassive black Hole of NGC 3783The angular size of the broad line region (BLR) of the nearby active galactic nucleus NGC 3783 has been spatially resolved by recent observations with VLTI/GRAVITY. A reverberation mapping (RM) campaign has also recently obtained high quality light curves and measured the linear size of the BLR in a way that is complementary to the GRAVITYGravity Collaboration et al.
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102021 -
The nuclear stellar disc of the Milky Way: A dynamically cool and metal-rich component possibly formed from the central molecular zoneContext. The nuclear stellar disc (NSD) is, together with the nuclear star cluster (NSC) and the central massive black hole, one of the main components in the central parts of our Milky Way. However, until recently, only a few studies of the stellar content of the NSD have been obtained owing to extreme extinction and stellar crowding. Aims: WeSchultheis, M. et al.
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62021 -
Dust in the central parsecs of unobscured AGN: more challenges to the torusA parsec-scale dusty torus is thought to be the cause of active galactic nuclei (AGN) dichotomy in the 1/2 types, narrow/broad emission lines. In a previous work, on the basis of parsec-scale resolution infrared/optical dust maps, it was found that dust filaments, few parsecs wide and several hundred parsecs long, were ubiquitous features crossingPrieto, M. Almudena et al.
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92021 -
A KMOS survey of the nuclear disk of the Milky Way. I. Survey design and metallicitiesContext. In the central few degrees of the bulge of the Milky Way there is a flattened structure of gas, dust, and stars, known as the central molecular zone, that is similar to nuclear disks in other galaxies. As a result of extreme foreground extinction, we possess only sparse information about the (mostly old) stellar population of the nuclearFritz, T. K. et al.
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52021 -
Raining in MKW 3 s: A Chandra-MUSE Analysis of X-Ray Cold Filaments around 3CR 318.1We present the analysis of X-ray and optical observations of gas filaments observed in the radio source 3CR 318.1, associated with NGC 5920, the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) of MKW 3 s, a nearby cool core galaxy cluster. This work is one of the first X-ray and optical analyses of filaments in cool core clusters carried out using MUSE observationsJimenez-Gallardo, A. et al.
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52021 -
The central parsec of NGC 3783: a rotating broad emission line region, asymmetric hot dust structure, and compact coronal line regionUsing VLTI/GRAVITY and SINFONI data, we investigate the subparsec gas and dust structure around the nearby type 1 active galactic nucleus (AGN) hosted by NGC 3783. The K-band coverage of GRAVITY uniquely allows simultaneous analysis of the size and kinematics of the broad line region (BLR), the size and structure of the near-infrared(near-IR)Gravity Collaboration et al.
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42021 -
Extended X-Ray Emission around FR II Radio Galaxies: Hot Spots, Lobes, and Galaxy ClustersWe present a systematic analysis of the extended X-ray emission discovered around 35 FR II radio galaxies from the revised Third Cambridge Catalog (3CR) Chandra Snapshot Survey with redshifts between 0.05 and 0.9. We aimed to (i) test for the presence of extended X-ray emission around FR II radio galaxies, (ii) investigate whether the extendedJimenez-Gallardo, A. et al.
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22021 -
Coronal-line forest active galactic nuclei - I. Physical properties of the emission-line regionsCoronal-line forest (CLiF) active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are characterized by strong high-ionization lines, which contrasts with what is found in most AGNs. Here, we carry out a multiwavelength analysis aimed at understanding the physical processes in the narrow-line region (NLR) of these objects, and at discovering whether they are indeed aCerqueira-Campos, F. C. et al.
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12021 -
The spatially resolved broad line region of IRAS 09149-6206We present new near-infrared VLTI/GRAVITY interferometric spectra that spatially resolve the broad Brγ emission line in the nucleus of the active galaxy IRAS 09149-6206. We use these data to measure the size of the broad line region (BLR) and estimate the mass of the central black hole. Using an improved phase calibration method that reduces theGravity Collaboration et al.
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112020 -
Completing the 3CR Chandra Snapshot Survey: Extragalactic Radio Sources at High RedshiftWe present the analysis of nine radio sources belonging to the Third Cambridge Revised catalog (3CR) observed with Chandra during Cycle 20 in the redshift range between 1.5 and 2.5. This study completes the 3CR Chandra Snapshot Survey thus guaranteeing the X-ray coverage of all 3CR sources identified to date. This sample lists two compact steepJimenez-Gallardo, A. et al.
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92020
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Astronomers develop new method for taking the temperature of black holesAdvertised on
![Izquierda - Imagen RGB de la nebulosa de Orión y M43 obtenida filtros estrechos con la cámara WFC en el INT: H alfa (rojo), [S II] 6716+30 (verde), [O III] 5007 (azul). Derecha - Imagen en falso color de la nebulosa planetaria NGC 6778. En azul se ve la emisión en la línea de O II tomada con el filtro sintonizable azul del instrumento OSIRIS en el GTC; en verde imagen con el filtro estrecho de [O III] del Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT).](/sites/default/files/styles/crop_square_2_2_to_320px/public/images/project/imagen_web.jpg?itok=fsBmV9CO "Izquierda - Imagen RGB de la nebulosa de Orión y M43 obtenida filtros estrechos con la cámara WFC en el INT: H alfa (rojo), [S II] 6716+30 (verde), [O III] 5007 (azul). Derecha - Imagen en falso color de la nebulosa planetaria NGC 6778. En azul se ve la emisión en la línea de O II tomada con el filtro sintonizable azul del instrumento OSIRIS en el GTC; en verde imagen con el filtro estrecho de [O III] del Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT).")
