Colloq Abstract - Elitzur
Feb 16
11:00am Mountain
Moshe Elitzur (University of Kentucky)
The AGN as a Protostar
Abstract
The variety of observations of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) show that the nuclear activity is powered by a central massive black hole that drives radio emitting jets and ionizes surrounding line-emitting clouds.
This central engine is surrounded by an obscuring torus, comprised of optically thick dusty clouds in a rotating configuration. There is no accepted scenario yet for the dynamics behind this complex environment.
In this talk I will suggest that we may get our clues from star formation,the other known case of accretion to a point mass, and present observational evidence in support of this suggestion.
