The Hierarchical Assembly of Massive Black Holes: Identifying Kpc-Scale Triple AGNs with Chandra, HST, and EVLA

We propose to image three optically selected kpc-scale triple-AGN candidates with Chandra, HST, and EVLA. The detection of three luminous hard X-ray point sources in each system would confirm their triple AGN nature unambiguously, enabling the first direct evidence for galaxies containing triple massive black holes. The joint HST and EVLA imaging will help characterize the excitation mechanism of the observed emission (AGN, starburst, and/or shocks), and will explore host galaxy morphologies and spatially resolved star formation activity in these unique mergers.