Black Holes in Active Galactic Nuclei 

• 16 hrs computer course
• 24 hrs lecture
• 24 hrs problem session

• The student masters methods from high-energy astrophysics and is able to apply these to Active Galactic Nuclei and Black Holes
• The student is able to model these processes numerically in a simplified setting
• The student understands the physics of accretion disks around black holes
• The student understands the physics of jets and how we can estimate physical conditions around the black hole from them

Accretion is the Universe's powerhouse: over the lifetime of the Universe most electromagnetic radiation has been produced by the accretion if gas onto the supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies. These so-called Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) host a range of physics phenomena that are not only important for understanding the physics in the direct environment of these black holes, but, e.g. through the generation of supersonic jets, also on the structure and evolution of the galaxies surrounding these active nuclei.  After a general introduction to AGN, we focus on relativistic jets and compact radio sources, synchrotron radiation, shock acceleration, black hole basics, standard accretion discs, advection-dominated accretion flows, the emission-line region of AGN and a unified view of AGN.

Students will be trained in modeling some of these phenomena with relevant physics on the computer.

• Lecture notes

This course will be given even-biennial in autumn.

The course is taught by dr. Elmar Körding