The Degree of Fine-Tuning in our Universe -- and Possibly Others Fred C. Adams, University of Michigan https://lsa.umich.edu/astro/people/jointly-appointed-faculty/fca.html The fundamental constants of nature must fall within a range of values in order for the universe to develop structure and ultimately support life. This talk considers the current constraints on these quantities and assesses the degree … Continue reading "CRA Seminar (Prof. Fred Adams, University of Michigan)"
Could there be an undetected inner planet near the stability limit in Kepler-1647? Abstract: Kepler-1647b is the most recently discovered planet that transits two stars, e.g., a circumbinary planet (CBP). Due to its large orbital separation, Kepler-1647b stands out from the rest of the Kepler CBPs, which mostly reside on much tighter orbits near … Continue reading "CRA Cosmic Coffee: Ziqian Hong"
3D Radiation Magneto-hydrodynamic Simulations of Accretion Disks around Supermassive Black Holes Abstract: Black hole accretion disks convert the gravitational energy of accreted gas to photons and produce varies observational phenomena of AGNs. First principle calculations of black hole accretion disks for a wide range of accretion rates are not only important for understanding various observational … Continue reading "CRA seminar: Dr. Yan-Fei Jiang (University of California Santa Barbara)"
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Title: Gravitational Waves: Using Merger to Understand Ringdown Abstract: With the advent of gravitational wave astronomy, we have newly found access to a wealth of knowledge in the form of gravitational waves. Scientists are working hard to extract as much information as possible from each of the ten binary black hole coalescences (and one … Continue reading "CRA Cosmic Coffee: Deborah Ferguson"
Title: Intermittent AGN feedback in galaxy clusters driven by cold gas accretion Abstract: Recent observations of cool core clusters provide evidence that the presence of cold, atomic and molecular gas in their centers is more common than previously expected. This finding has important implications for the fueling of and feedback from the supermassive black holes … Continue reading "CRA Cosmic Coffee: KwangHo Park"
Title: Design of an Expanding Cosmological Background for the Moving Punctures approach to Numerical Relativity Abstract: Predicted in 1916 by Albert Einstein in his theory of general relativity, gravitational waves are now at the heart of modern astrophysics. Created in some of the most energetic events in the universe, such as binary black hole collisions, … Continue reading "CRA Cosmic Coffee: Jordi Manyer"
Title: A multi-observatory X-ray approach to characterize heavily obscured AGNs According to the different models of Cosmic X-ray Background (CXB), the diffuse X-ray emission observed in the 1 to ~200-300 keV band, is mainly caused by accreting supermassive black holes, the so-called active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). Particularly, at the peak of the CXB (~30 keV) … Continue reading "CRA Seminar: Dr. Stefano Marchesi (Clemson University)"