Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Galaxies and galaxy clusters are the elemental building blocks in the structural hierarchy of the Universe. Most of the normal matter in galaxy clusters and much of the matter in massive galaxies resides in atmospheres of hot diffuse plasma that emit X-rays. Models for galaxy and large-scale structure formation failed to reproduce this plasma until it was realized, in large measure to work by our group, that models had failed to account for the vast energy released by "supermassive" black holes (SMBHs) billions of times the Sun's mass that inhabit the nuclei of galaxies.  X-ray and radio imagery have revealed powerful jets of particles and radiation launched by SMBHs that apparently heat the plasma in and around galaxies and clusters, and sometimes blow away the gasses entirely. This process, known as radio-mode feedback, has suppressed star formation in massive galaxies and clusters for the past 10 billion years.  It is the most significant development in galaxy formation physics in decades.  How this remarkable feedback mechanism operates is an enduring mystery that will be addressed by this program. We present a coordinated program of training and research using observations from XRISM, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), and other ground and space facilities to study motions, ionization states, and chemical composition of the hot, warm and cold gasses embedded in galactic hot atmospheres. Due to the dynamical complexity of these systems, we will adopt modern statistical approaches to understand the roles of turbulence, uplift, and bulk motion on the heating and cooling cycle that regulates star formation and the fuelling of nuclear black holes. Understanding feedback from black holes is the most important unsolved problem in galaxy formation. The XRISM X-ray Observatory, launching in Spring 2023, will probe more deeply into SMBH feedback than any facility since the Chandra and XMM-Newton Observatories were commissioned over two decades ago.  As one of two Canadian Space Agency (CSA) XRISM scientists, my research team will have privileged access to the first data that will reveal how powerful radio jets shape galaxies and clusters of galaxies and the vast atmospheres of gas and dust surrounding them.  Built by NASA and the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA),  its micro-calorimeter imaging-spectrometer will scan the X-ray spectrum of galaxies, galaxy clusters, and black holes with nearly 100 times higher precision than current generation X-ray spectrometers. XRISM will reveal the chemical composition and velocity structure of the tens of millions of degree plasmas pervading galaxies and galaxy clusters, revealing how atmospheres formed and how SMBHs shaped the atmospheres and their host galaxies. XRISM is the pathfinder to future, earth-orbiting X-ray facilities including Europe's Athena and NASA's Lynx. This DG will train future leaders of these great observatories.