Sera Markoff
Inst. Anton Pannekoek, Univ. Amsterdam (Amsterdam, Pays-Bas)
Amphithéâtre Henri Mineur, Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris
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| « Using our Galactic center supermassive black hole Sgr A* as a testbed for theories of accretion and cosmic evolution » |
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Sera Markoff |
| Sgr A* is the weakest accreting black hole we have ever observed, yet it is not a particularly unique object. We know that the majority of galaxies harbor nuclear black holes more like Sgr A* than bright active galactic nuclei (AGN), so our Galactic center represents a dominant stage in the "typical" life cycle of a spiral galaxy. I will discuss our current understanding of accretion around Sgr A*, the only source so far where we can directly image near-event horizon scales, and where semi-analytical models agree with sophisticated general relativistic magnetohydrodynamical simulations. These results provide a baseline for addressing several major questions relevant to the wider impact of black holes in the universe, such as feedback in galaxies and clusters, or high energy particle acceleration. I will present some recent examples of how Sgr A* is elucidating key physics relevant for black holes at all mass scales, as well as its own history as a brighter AGN. |
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vendredi 24 octobre 2014 - 11:00 Amphithéâtre Henri Mineur, Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris |
| Page web du séminaire / Seminar's webpage |