Astrophysics & Planetary Sciences Colloquium

A Merging of Worlds: Combining the Planetary and Exoplanetary Sciences

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Abstract:  Underpinning planetary science is a deep history of observation and, more recently, robotic exploration within the Solar System, from which models of planetary processes have been constructed. Concurrently, thousands of planets have been discovered outside our Solar System that exhibit enormous diversity, and their large numbers provide a statistical opportunity to place our Solar System within the broader context of planetary structure, atmospheres, architectures, formation, and evolution.

Black hole accretion from the inside out

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Abstract: In the last several years, the combination of resolved event horizon scale images and large-scale computational models has led to new insights into black hole accretion. The main implication is that magnetic fields near the event horizon can become dynamically important, and I'll show that such a scenario provides a natural explanation for the high energy flares from our Galactic center black hole.

Gas flows and metal enrichment in and around simulated galaxies

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Abstract: Galaxies are intimately connected to the environments they live in. The haloes around them contain the gas reservoir from which the galaxies grow, while galactic outflows heat and enrich this circumgalactic medium (CGM). The elemental abundances of present-day stars are, in part, set by these cosmic gas flows. Using zoom-in cosmological simulations of galaxies, I will discuss the physical and observable properties of gas and stars in and around galaxies.

Forming truncated accretion disks

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Abstract: Black hole X-ray binaries and Active Galactic Nuclei transition through a series of accretion states in a well-defined order. During a state transition, the accretion flow changes from a hot geometrically thick accretion flow, emitting a power-law–like hard spectrum to a geometrically thin, cool accretion flow, producing black-body–like soft spectrum.

How were the most ancient objects in the universe formed?

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Abstract: Ancient remnants from the early universe surround our galaxy, which you may know as globular clusters. Although now on their old age, understanding how these clusters were formed has the potential to provide insight into the physical conditions that prevailed during an epoch that cannot be directly observed. We now know that globular clusters can form during extreme episodes of star formation in the relatively nearby universe, but the actual physical conditions that give rise to globular clusters have vexed both observers and theorists for decades.

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