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| The
extreme physics of Eddington and super Eddington accretion onto Black
Holes a comprehensive study of the "Eddington limit" across mass scales 23rd - 27th March, 2015 (First meeting) 29th February - 4th March, 2016 (Second Meeting) PIs: D. Altamirano (Southampton, UK) & O. Blaes (UCSB, USA) |
| Abstract: Understanding both the macro- and micro-physics of accretion onto black holes is one of the fundamental goals of Astrophysics, with relevance to measuring the effects of strong gravity and to understanding structure formation in the universe. We propose an International Team to study socalled Eddington-limited accretion, a unique and extreme regime where so much accretion power is liberated that the outward radiation pressure force is comparable to the inward force of gravity. The Team that we have assembled spans a wide range of expertise in order to critically review our understanding of the physics of Eddington-limited accretion onto black holes across a mass scale that spans 8 orders of magnitude, and the physical mechanisms that produce different types of outflows (like disk-winds and relativistic jets). The Team consists of 12 members coming from 4 different continents and 6 different countries, equally balanced between theoretical and observational members with the necessary complementary expertise. The primary goals of the Team will be address key questions related to (i) the physical conditions for Eddington and super-Eddington accretion, (ii) its observational manifestation across a wide range of black-hole mass, and (iii) the implications for accretion-disk geometry and outflows. |
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Dr. Diego Altamirano School of Physics & Astronomy University of Southampton Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ, U.K. Phone: +44 23 8059-7370 E-mail:: d.altamirano@soton.ac.uk |
Prof. Ari Laor Technion- Israel Institute of Technology Technion City Haifa 3200003, Israel Phone: +972 4 829-3575 E-mail: laor@physics.technion.ac.il |
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Prof.
Tomaso Belloni INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera Via E. Bianchi 46 I-23807 Merate, Italy Phone: +39 39 597-1026 E-mail: tomaso.belloni@brera.inaf.it |
Dr.
Joey Neilsen Institute for Astrophysical Research, BU 725 Commonwealth Avenue, 416D Boston, MA 02215, USA Phone: +1 617 353-1533 E-mail: neilsenj@bu.edu |
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Prof.
Omer Blaes Physics Department University of California Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9530, USA Phone: +1 805 893-7239 E-mail: blaes@physics.ucsb.edu |
Prof.
Hagai Netzer School of Physics and Astronomy Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel Phone: +972 3 640-7152 E-mail: netzer@wise.tau.ac.il |
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Dr.
Shane Davis CITA University of Toronto 60 St. George Street Toronto, ON, M5S 3H8, Canada Phone: +1 416 978-1777 E-mail: swd@cita.utoronto.ca |
Prof.
Chris Reynolds Dept. of Astronomy Physical Sciences Complex Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD20742, USA Phone : +1 301 405-2682 E-mail: chris@astro.umd.edu |
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Prof.
Chris Done Department of Physics Durham University South Road Durham DH1 3LE Phone: +44 191 33-43614 E-mail: chris.done@durham.ac.uk |
Dr.
Aleksander Sadowski Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden St. Ms-51 Cambridge, MA, USA Phone: +1 617 496 7948 Email: asadowski@cfa.harvard.edu |
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Prof.
Chris Fragile College of Charleston Department of Physics & Astronomy 66 George Street Charleston, SC 29424, USA Phone: +1 843 953-3181 E-mail: fragilep@cofc.edu |
Dr.
Roberto Soria Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy 1 Turner Avenue Technology Park Bentley WA 6102, Australia Phone: +61 8 9266 9665 E-mail: Roberto.Soria@curtin.edu.au |
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Dr.
Jason Dexter MPI for Extraterrestrial Physics Giessenbachstr. 85748 Garching, Germany Phone: +49 89 30000 3324 E-mail: jdexter@mpe.mpg.de |
Dr. Yan-Fei Jiang Harvard-Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory 60 Garden Street MS-51, Cambridge, MA 02138 Phone: +1 617-495-7213 Email: yanfei.jiang@cfa.harvard.edu |
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Dr. Erin Kara Dept. of Astronomy Physical Sciences Complex University of Maryland, Phone:+1 202-739-1171 E-mail: ekara@astro.umd.edu |
Bhupendra Mishra Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center 00716, Warsaw Poland Phone: +48 223 296101 E-mail: mbhupe@camk.edu.pl |
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Jason Kaufman Physics Department University of California Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9530, USA Phone: +1 914 400 3100 E-mail: jkaufman@physics.ucsb.edu |