CRA Seminar

Title: The Growth and Evolution of SMBHs via Galaxy Mergers Abstract: After decades of SMBH observations, the connection between AGN triggering and galaxy mergers remains incomplete, although AGN are likely key players in the evolution of massive galaxies. Theoretically, there are many reasons to expect a link between galaxy mergers and the accretion of material … Continue reading "CRA Seminar – Adi Foord, U. of Maryland Baltimore County [Host Tamara Bogdanovic]"

Title: Probing the inner geometry of AGN accretion flows and searching for SMBHB candidates in large optical sky surveys Abstract: Observations of the AGN Fairall 9 with NICER and Swift revealed a strong relationship between the flux of the UV continuum and the X-ray soft excess, indicating the presence of a “warm” Comptonized region which … Continue reading "CRA Seminar: Ethan Partington, IA-FORTH (Host Laura Cadonati)"

Title: The Origin of Supermassive Black Holes from Pop III.1 Seeds Abstract: The origin of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) is a key open question for contemporary astrophysics and cosmology. Here we discuss the predictions of a model of SMBH formation from Pop III.1 protostars, i.e., metal-free stars forming in locally isolated dark matter minihalos, where dark … Continue reading "Special CRA Seminar – Jonathan C. Tan [Host John Wise]"

Title: Understanding the dynamics of accretion onto black holes in radiation GRMHD simulations Abstract: Radiation and magnetic fields play crucial roles in shaping the physics of black hole accretion, especially in near- and super-Eddington regimes. To model this process, we solve the GRMHD equations coupled with angle-dependent radiation transfer, which enables us to capture the complex dynamics driven … Continue reading "CRA Seminar – Lizhong Zhang, Flatiron Institute (Host Julia Speicher)"

Title: Facilitating Multi-Messenger Astrophysics with Timely Information about Gravitational Waves Abstract: In the age of multi-messenger astrophysics, providing timely information about gravitational-wave events is vital to achieve coincident detections. Electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational waves originating from compact binary coalescences containing at least one neutron star can help answer unsolved questions in physics such as the … Continue reading "CRA Seminar: Caitlin Rose, Georgia Tech [ Surabhi Sachdev]"

Title: First study of neutrino angle reconstruction using quasielastic-like interactions in MicroBooNE Abstract: We investigate the expected precision of the reconstructed neutrino direction using a muon neutrino-argon quasielastic-like event topology with one muon and one proton in the final state and the reconstruction capabilities of the MicroBooNE liquid argon time projection chamber. This direction is … Continue reading "Special CRA Seminar: Afroditi Papadopoulou [LANL]"

Title: Variability of binary AGNs Abstract: I will discuss recent results from numerical modeling of the electromagnetic (EM) variability signatures of accreting supermassive black hole (SMBH) binaries. Orbiting SMBH binaries … Continue reading "CRA Seminar – Dr. Jonathan Zrake [Prof. Tamara Bogdanovic]"

Title: Ultralight to Heavy: Production Pathways of Axions and Dark Photons as Dark Matter Abstract: In this talk, I will review the motivation for axions (and alike particles) and dark photons … Continue reading "CRA Special Seminar – Prof. Paola Arias [Prof. John Wise]"

Title: Quasi-periodic Eruptions Abstract: Quasi-Periodic Eruptions (QPEs) are a newly discovered type of recurring X-ray transient originating from supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in nearby, low-mass galaxy nuclei. They are thought to be … Continue reading "CRA Special Seminar Joheen Chakraborty (Host Dr. Matthew Liska)"

Title: Coronal Heating and Feedback from Luminous Accretion Flows: Challenges and Insights from Local and Global Simulations Abstract Radiatively efficient accretion represents a frontier problem for computational astrophysics. Through leveraging GPU acceleration and exascale supercomputer architectures, the H-AMR Collaboration, led out of Georgia Tech, has been working to understand the structure of accretion flows onto … Continue reading "CRA SEMINAR Dr. Christopher Bambic [Prof. John Wise]"