Wind from the black hole accretion disk driving a molecular outflow in an active galaxy. This is the title of the project that has been declared winner of the second edition (2017) of the Aspen Institute Italia Award for scientific research and collaboration between Italy and the United States. The research project was Nature’s cover story on March 26, 2015.1
By crossing data received from two different space telescopes, the authors demonstrate that wind coming from black holes contributes to the formation of new stars inside different galaxies. In particular, they prove that the evolution of galaxies depends on the black holes at their center. This research project continues a long line of scientific results – begun by Bruno Rossi and Riccardo Giacconi (2002 Nobel Prize in Physics) – from Italians and Americans who have collaborated in X- ray astrophysics.
The study was undertaken by the following six researchers:
| 1) | Francesco Tombesi
Researcher and Assistant Professor of Astrophysics University of Rome Tor Vergata – Rome – Italy; Astrophysicist, X-ray Astrophysics Laboratory NASA – Goddard Space Flight Center – Greenbelt, MD – USA; Assistant Research Scientist, Department of Astronomy University of Maryland – College Park, MD – USA |
| 2) | Marcio B. Meléndez Hernández
Research Scientist – Department of Astronomy University of Maryland – College Park, MD – USA |
| 3) | Sylvain Veilleux
Professor of Astronomy and Joint Space Science Institute (JSI) Fellow University of Maryland – College Park, MD – USA |
| 4) | James N. Reeves
Research Scientist – Center for Space Science and Technology University of Maryland – College Park, MD – USA; Astrophysics Group, School of Physical and Geographical Sciences Keele University – United Kingdom |
| 5) | Eduardo González Alfonso
Professor – Department of Physics and Mathematics University of Alcalá – Spain |
| 6) | Christopher S. Reynolds
Professor of Astronomy and Joint Space Science Institute (JSI) Fellow University of Maryland – College Park, MD – USA |
1 http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v519/n7544/full/nature14261.html