Events at Physics |
Events on Thursday, April 3rd, 2025
- Graduate Program Event
- PhD Handbook Q&A session
- Time: 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
- Place: B343 Sterling
- Speaker: Keith Bechtol, Sharon Kahn, PhD program
- Abstract: Do you have questions about the updated PhD student handbook? Do you have inquiries about how how the Satisfactory Progress policy will be implemented?
Students are invited to join Keith Bechtol, Associate Chair for Grad Studies, and Sharon Kahn, Graduate Program Manager, for an informal Q&A session on Thursday, 3 April 2025 @ 3pm in Sterling B343.
During the session, we will also preview the new process for annual written progress reports.
We welcome questions in advance of the session. Questions can be posted anonymously on this spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MhVpG4qlzRo5Dn6g1teWDkxtOcK0lpXbojcASLx-ytE/edit?usp=sharing ), or can be sent directly to Keith and Sharon.
- Host: Keith Bechtol
- Astronomy Colloquium
- New Phenomena Around Supermassive Black Holes: Dynamics and Chemistry
- Time: 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
- Place: 4421 Sterling Hall
- Speaker: Mark Gorski, CIERA Postdoctoral Fellow
- Abstract: In 1982 Blandford and Payne predicted that magnetic fields are fundamental for accretion onto supermassive black holes (SMBHs). Magnetic field lines anchored in the disk accelerate a wind via the centrifugal force, allowing for the angular momentum to be transferred out of the system and gas to accrete onto the central compact object generating an active galactic nucleus (AGN). The wind can form a few Schwarzschild radii from the SMBH up to the nuclear torus. Almost a half century later, the detailed mechanisms of SMBH growth are still a passionate area of research. Astronomers currently debate whether winds are fuelled by jets, mechanical winds, or radiation, with magnetic processes being the least accepted explanation. Here, I present detailed ALMA observations of the most compact and opaque galactic nuclei in the universe, appropriately named compact obscure nuclei (CONs). CONs represent a significant phase of galactic nuclear growth, with opaque and compact centers (r <100 pc), that conceal growing SMBHs. The analysis of these observations reveal a wind that exceeds theoretical maximum momentum for an AGN feedback powered galactic wind. The extreme momentum implies the existence of a magneto hydrodynamic (MHD) wind. The wind is highly collimated and rotates out to 100pc above the galactic nucleus. Furthermore, abundances of complex organic molecules rival Sgr B2 and Galactic hot cores in the nucleus. These results imply that growth of SMBHs is very similar to the growth of hot cores or protostars, and feedback from an AGN is not necessary to drive a galactic wind.
- Host: Melinda Soares-Furtado
- Graduate Program Event
- International Student Tax Session
- Time: 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
- Place: B343 Sterling
- Abstract: We're quickly approaching the most exciting time of the year – tax season! Ameya has organized a tax session to review existing tax obligations for international students and discuss any tax questions we might have.
Hope to see you all at the session!
- Host: Ameya Thete