Probing the Most Supermassive Black Holes In the Early Universe (z>6)
The BIG-z project investigates the most supermassive black holes (SMBH) in the early universe (z>6), when the universe was less than one billion years old. By combining multi-wavelength observations from XMM-Newton, VLT, ALMA and NOEMA with machine-learning techniques and cosmological simulations, BIG-z aims to answer three fundamental questions:
- How SMBHs formed and rapidly reached billions of solar masses;
- When and how their growth slowed down;
- The impact of SMBH feedback on the galaxies and the large-scale environment.
Through a multi-scale approach, BIG-z aims to reveal the physical processes driving the birth of the most luminous quasars ever observed.
MULTI-SCALE VIEWS
The growth of the first quasars triggers a sequence of multi-scale processes that affect the fate of the multi-scale Universe. BIG-z approaches it across three interconnected regimes!
MICRO: Accretion disk & corona near the SMBH
Identify the mechanism powering rapid black hole growth and extreme luminosities
MESO: SMBH sphere of influence
Determine the effects of MBH feedback on its growth
MACRO: Host galaxy & CGM
Assess whether/how quasar-driven outflows affect star formation accretion from large scales
Big-z team
Principal Investigators of BIG-z
Fabrizio Fiore
Director of INAF
Simona Gallerani
Associate Professor
Dr. Chiara Feruglio
Researcher INAF-OATs
Dr. Luca Zappacosta
Researcher INAF-OAR
Dr. Valentina D’Odorico
Researcher INAF-OATs
Prof. Stefano Cristiani
Researcher INAF-OATs
Dr. Giorgio Calderone
Primo Tecnologo INAF-OATs