Multiwavelength views of highly ionized X-ray-emitting and warm ionized gas around two luminous type 2 quasars.

NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow

Tracing black-hole feedback across galaxies

I investigate how accreting supermassive black holes drive multiphase outflows and transfer energy into their host galaxies, from the nuclear region to galaxy scales.

Explore my research Read the latest paper ↗

X-ray: NASA/CXC; optical: NASA/ESA/HST; image processing and composition: Anna Trindade Falcão.

Research themeMultiphase AGN outflows

Observational approachSpatially resolved multiwavelength astrophysics

Featured facilitiesChandra · Hubble · VLA

Research program

Four connected research themes

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X-ray: NASA/CXC; optical: NASA/ESA/HST; image processing and composition: Anna Trindade Falcão.

Black-hole winds

Trace highly ionized X-ray-emitting gas and warm ionized gas from the accreting nucleus to kiloparsec scales.

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Artist concept of a candidate supermassive black-hole pair.

Artist’s concept · NASA, ESA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)

Candidate dual active nuclei

Test candidate dual active nuclei by comparing compact X-ray, optical, and radio structures.

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Scientific illustration of highly ionized X-ray-emitting and warm gas phases in a bipolar AGN outflow.

Conceptual illustration of a multiphase AGN outflow.

AGN–galaxy feedback

Constrain how nuclear outflows interact with multiphase gas and transport energy through their host galaxies.

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Illustration and simulation collage for NewAthena scientific topics: a spacecraft illustration against a star field with inset simulated X-ray images and spectra. The inset panels are simulations, not observations or measured results.

Simulated imagery, not observations · D. Futselaar et al.Image source ↗CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ↗

Future X-ray astronomy

Develop science cases, spectral simulations, and preparatory analyses for NewAthena.

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Featured scientific result

2026 · The Astrophysical Journal

Hot X-ray gas around two luminous type 2 quasars

Side-by-side observational composites of 2MASX J13003807+5454367 and FIRST J120041.4+314745, with Chandra X-rays in red, Hubble [O III] emission in green, and Hubble stellar continuum in blue. — Observational composites2MASX J13003807+5454367 · FIRST J120041.4+314745Red: Chandra soft X-ray emission · **Green:** Hubble [O III] · **Blue:** Hubble stellar continuumX-ray: NASA/CXC; optical: NASA/ESA/HST; image processing and composition: Anna Trindade Falcão.

Chandra and Hubble reveal extended photoionized gas with contrasting spatial structures in the two quasars.

What we see: Extended soft X-ray emission and warm-ionized [O III] structures in both targets.
What we measure: [O III] provides gas velocities and line widths. The X-ray data constrain morphology and ionization, not an extended-gas velocity field.
How we test the connection: Subpixel X-ray imaging and PSF analysis, photoionization modeling, and a Chandra–Hubble spatial comparison test where the highly ionized and warm-ionized structures coincide.

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About Anna

Tracing black-hole winds through nearby active galaxies

Anna Trindade Falcão is a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow at NASA Goddard. She uses spatially resolved multiwavelength observations to investigate how accretion-driven winds interact with gas in nearby active galaxies.

Selected results

Additional evidence across active galaxies

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Hubble visible-light image of the dust-rich galaxy MCG-03-34-64, with compact emission in its active nucleus. — Hubble: NASA/ESA/HST; image processing: Anna Trindade Falcão.

Chandra · Hubble · VLA

Testing a candidate dual active nucleus

Spatially resolved X-ray, optical, and radio structures in MCG-03-34-64 support a candidate dual-AGN interpretation. One active nucleus plus shocked circumnuclear gas remains viable.

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Connect with me

View my publications and CV, or contact me about research collaborations and invited presentations.

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