Astronomy & Astrophysics Seminar: And Then There Was Light: What Black Hole Imaging With The Event Horizon Telescope Can Teach Us About Particle Acceleration

Sera Markoff, University of Amsterdam

19 May 2021, 14:00 
Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84211520648?pwd=dllEbUhBU1VRUDZPL2lWRnhjWEdzZz09 
Astronomy & Astrophysics Seminar

Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84211520648?pwd=dllEbUhBU1VRUDZPL2lWRnhjWEdzZz09

 

Abstract:

The physicist John Wheeler  famously said “black holes have no hair”. However black holes end up having pretty complex “hair" when they gravitationally capture material in a process called accretion, and release it back into their surroundings. The most dramatic examples of this energy release are the enormous magnetised plasma jets that can extend well beyond their host galaxy. Beyond being vehicles of energy transport over orders of magnitude in scale, jets are of great interest for astroparticle physics as the suspected source of ultra-high energy cosmic rays, neutrinos and gamma-rays. I will discuss how the methods we use to interpret EHT results and constrain General Relativity also have direct consequences for our understanding of jet launching and their high-energy particle acceleration. I will also discuss the outlook and need for continued coordinated multi-facility approaches, to develop a complete physical picture of the systems powered by black hole accretion.

 

 

Seminar Organizer: Dr. Iair Arcavi

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