Glimpse into the Heart of Quasars: Using Light Echoes as a Tool
Date:
Speaker: Mr. VIvek Kumar Jha (Ph.D. Research Scholar ARIES) ABSTRACT Extragalactic astronomy has grown by leaps and bounds in less than 100 years. Quasars have played a pivotal role in this growth, with their discovery up to a redshift more than 7 or, in other words, 1 billion years since the Big Bang happened. However, even with large telescope apertures and vast improvements in detector technology, resolving their innermost regions remains a formidable challenge, even for nearby quasars. Nevertheless, understanding the innermost regions of these objects is critical in our understanding of the galaxy evolution and the structure and dynamics of matter in the vicinity of a Supermassive Black Hole (SMBH). During my Ph.D. thesis, we have explored various indirect methods to understand the innermost regions of these objects. We find that the accretion disk, which forms due to matter falling onto the SMBH, does not follow the theoretical disk models. Moreover, we find that traces of out-flowing gases exist in the quasars with higher accretion rates. During this presentation, I will discuss some of these findings and their significance in understanding the innermost regions of quasars. YouTube Video of talk here and the Report with more information here.