Venkatessh Ramakrishnan (Aalto University, Finland)

Venkatessh Ramakrishnan Colloquium: Roadmap to a compendium of black hole images

Kensington/Webex

Abstract

The transformational science on the study of supermassive black holes and other non-horizon objects, as enabled by the Event Horizon Telescope, opens a window to directly test the effects of General relativity (GR) on various classes of accreting objects. The knowledge garnered from studies of M87* and SgrA* has to be expanded to several other black holes to enhance our understanding of GR on a cosmological scale. I will present the plans and progress underway of a project with a sample of nearby galaxies. The work entails a multifrequency approach with data obtained from radio to gamma-rays for more thorough modelling of the broadband SEDs, and the variability of accretion flows that are within the gravitational potential of the black hole. Finally, the interest or the requirement in having both the theory and observations in a close interface for this study will also be discussed.