WoU-MMA: Dwarf AGNs from Variability for the Origins of Seeds (DAVOS)

Mergers of intermediate mass black holes are expected as prime sources of gravitational waves to be detected by upcoming experiments in space. To determine the rates and interpret the gravitational wave signals, independent measurements of the black hole number densities are critical. However, the fraction of black holes in dwarf galaxies is poorly constrained. This presents a major hurdle in advancing the exciting new frontier of multi-messenger astronomy. This project will measure the number densities and distributions of intermediate mass black holes in dwarf galaxies. It will discover new dwarf active galactic nucleus (AGN) candidates in lower mass galaxies at higher redshift. It will make informed inferences on the origins of intermediate mass black holes. It has broad implications for galaxy evolution and for interpreting gravitational waves. The program will also create societal values. It will disseminate knowledge in public education and classrooms. It will also develop dedicated outreach programs to promote diversity in science. This program will leverage a new mass estimation method and harness state-of-the-art synoptic surveys to measure the black hole occupation fraction in dwarf galaxies in the best extragalactic deep fields. It will test and potentially distinguish seeding models for all supermassive black holes. It will produce direct black hole mass estimates (or upper limits) that are not yet feasible otherwise in the poorly explored intermediate-mass regime. All codes generated will be open-sourced to enable broad community usage. The program will be a pathfinder for large-scale dwarf AGN studies with the Rubin, Euclid, and Roman observatories. This award addresses/advances the goals of the Windows on the Universe Big Idea. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.