Dr M Goad, Dr S Vaughan
No more applications being accepted
Competition Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)
About the Project
Correlated continuum and broad emission line variability studies have proven a powerful probe of the central regions of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN).
Traditionally RM has focused on probing the spatial distribution and kinematics of the broad emission line region (BLR), and determining
the mass of the central supermassive black hole. More recently, correlated continuum variations have been used to : (i) measure the
distance to the hot dust (dust RM), and (ii) map the disc radial temperature profile, T(R). Dust delays provide an upper limit to the BLR outer boundary necessary for constraining photoionization models, while T(R) can be used to determine the mass accretion rate through the disc for AGN with known black hole mass.
We have on-going optical--IR programs with Liverpool Telescope in support of HST and Swift/XRT/UVOT monitoring programs, providing
ground-based spectrophotometry, for disc, dust and broad emission-line variability studies. PhD projects will centre around data reduction and analysis, and may include a substantial modelling component.
Funding Notes
This project is eligible for a fully funded STFC studentship which includes :
· A full UK/EU fee waiver for 3.5 years
· An annual tax free stipend of £14,777 (2018/19)
· Research Training Support Grant (RTSG)
· Conference Fees & UK Fieldwork
Studentships are available to UK/EU applicants who meet the STFC Residency Criteria; if you have been ordinarily resident in the UK for three years you will normally be entitled to apply for a full studentship.
References
Cackett et al. 2018, ApJ 857, 53.
Lawther et al. 2018, MNRAS 481, 533
Fausnaugh et al. 2016, ApJ 821, 56.
Edelson et al. 2017, ApJ 840, 41.
Edelson et al. 2015 ApJ 806, 129.
Goad and Korista 2014, MNRAS 453, 3662
Korista and Goad 2001, ApJ 553, 695.
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