BASS project

Koss, Michael (Eureka Scientific)  

Dr. Koss' main research focus is how black holes grow and interact with their host galaxy. He is particularly interested in studying obscured black hole growth and merging galaxies using large samples of nearby AGN. He has led over 40 ground and space based proposals to study Swift BAT selected AGN in the UV/optical/IR/submillimeter/radio with large programs with Chandra in the X-rays, APEX in the submillimeter, and Keck using NIR adaptive optics. His goal in the BASS project is to encourage other researchers to pool their expertise to identify unique scientific questions and test much of the AGN science done in the last 30 years with a large sample (>1000) that is sensitive to obscured AGN and has reliable measurements of black hole masses and accretion rates. As part of the core team he sets up the projects, telecons, and the BASS slack group.

Ricci, Claudio (Universidad Diego Portales)  

Prof. Ricci's research is mainly focussed on the structure of the gas and dust surrounding supermassive black holes, and on how this material evolves with the properties of the AGN and those of the host galaxy. Within BASS he is in charge of the X-ray spectroscopy of all Swift/BAT AGN, and on the study of absorption properties of AGN.

Trakhtenbrot, Benny (Tel Aviv University)  

Prof. Trakhtenbrot is interested in the cosmic growth of super-massive black holes, the radiation that emerges from this process, and how these may be related to the host galaxies. As part of the BASS core team, Dr. Trakhtenbrot contributed to optical spectral analysis, and particularly black hole mass and accretion rate measurements, as well as general project oversight.

Oh, Kyuseok (Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute)  

Dr. Oh's research interests lie in the field of galaxy formation and evolution, with a particular focus on the active galactic nuclei with supermassive black holes using ground optical telescopes as well as space based high-energy X-ray instruments. As a core member of the BASS project, Dr. Oh analysed acquired optical spectral data, proposed successful optical spectroscopic proposals, and performed follow-up spectral line measurements. More optical data analysis for measuring black hole mass, Eddington accretion rate and emission line statistics is currently in progress.

Urry, Meg (Yale University)  

Meg Urry is Director of the Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics and served as Chair of the Yale Physics Department from 2007 to 2013. She is currently Past President of the American Astronomical Society (the last in a 4-year term). Her scientific research focuses on active galaxies, which host accreting supermassive black holes in their centers; she has published over 270 refereed research articles on supermassive black holes and galaxies and was identified as a "Highly Cited Author" by Thomson Reuters.

Powell, Meredith (Yale University)  

Merry's research interests include the growth of supermassive black holes and how they coevolve with the galaxies and dark matter halos that host them. For the BASS survey she has contributed to the spectroscopic follow-up observations of the sample, and has lead the analysis of their spatial clustering in order to characterize the large-scale environments of AGN.

Stern, Daniel (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology)  

Dr. Daniel Stern is the project scientist for NuSTAR and deputy PI of the NASA-funded Euclid science team. He has supported much of the optical spectroscopy observing through Keck and Palomar time.

Harrison, Fiona (California Institute of Technology)  

Professor Fiona Harrison is the PI of the NuSTARand UVEX mission, Professor of Physics at Caltech and has served as chair of the High Energy Astrophysics division. She has supported the followup optical spectroscopy of BAT AGN using Keck and Palomar time.

Team members (alphabetical order)

Ananna, Tonima
(Dartmouth College)

Auge, Connor
(University of Hawaii)

Baek, Junhyun
(Yonsei University)

Baer, Rudolf
(ETH Zurich)

Baloković, Mislav
(California Institute of Technology)

Bauer, Franz
(Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile)

Blecha, Laura
(University of Florida)

Caglar, Turgay
(Leiden University)

Cenko, Brad
(NASA GSFC)

Chang, Chin Shin
(ALMA/JAO)

Chen, Xiaoyang
(National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)

Diaz, Yaherlyn
(Universidad Diego Portales)

Dimopoulos, Giorgos
(Universidad Diego Portales)

Evans, Phil
(University of Leicester)

Gillette, Jarred
(Eureka Scientific)

Gupta, Kriti Kamal
(Universidad Diego Portales)

Ichikawa, Kohei
(Tohoku University)

Izumi, Takuma
(National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)

Kakkad, Darshan
(European Southern Observatory)

Kawamuro, Taiki
(Universidad Diego Portales)

Kim, Jeein
(Yonsei University)

Lamperti, Isabella
(CAB-INTA/CSIC)

Lien, Amy
(University of Tampa)

Liu, Tingting
(University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee)

Mejía-Restrepo, Julián
(European Southern Observatory)

Marcotulli, Lea
(Clemson University)

Mushotzky, Richard
(University of Maryland)

Parra, Miguel
(Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile)

Peca, Alessandro
(University of Miami)

Pfeifle, Ryan
(George Mason University)

Privon, George
(National Radio Astronomy Observatory)

Ricci, Federica
(Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile)

Riffel, Rogério
(UFRGS)

Rojas, Alejandra
(Universidad Andrés Bello)

Rosario, David
(Durham University)

Sanders, David
(University of Hawaii)

Sani, Eleonora
(European Southern Observatory)

Sartori, Lia
(ETH Zurich)

Secrest, Nathan
(George Mason University)

Shimizu, Taro
(Max-Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics)

Smith, Krista Lynne
(Stanford University)

Stalevski, Marko
(Astronomical Observatory of Belgrade)

Temple, Matthew
(Universidad Diego Portales)

Tokayer, Yarone
(Yale University)

Tortosa, Alessia
(Universidad Diego Portales)

Treister, Ezequiel
(Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile)

Troncoso, Marco
(Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile)

Ueda, Yoshihiro
(Kyoto University)

Veilleux, Sylvain
(University of Maryland)

Wong, Ivy
(International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research)

Former members

Schawinski, Kevin
(ETH Zurich)

Asmus, Daniel
(European Southern Observatory)

Baronchelli, Linda
(Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics)

Berney, Simon
(ETH Zurich)

Crenshaw, D. Michael
(Georgia State University)

Gehrels, Neil
(NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center)

Hogg, Drew
(University of Maryland)

Masetti, Nicola
(INAF-IASF Bologna)

Rahimi, Tamara
(ETH Zurich)

Rodríguez-Ardila, Alberto
(Laboratório Nacional de Astrofísica)

Stark, Dominic
(ETH Zurich)

Strittmatter, Benjamin
(ETH Zurich)

Weigel, Anna
(ETH Zurich)