Related papers: General Relativistic Modeling of Magnetized Jets f…
Observations of jets in X-ray binaries show a correlation between radio power and black hole spin. This correlation, if confirmed, points towards the idea that relativistic jets may be powered by the rotational energy of black holes. In…
A brief summary of the properties of astrophysical black holes is presented. Various modes of accretion are distinguished, corresponding to accretion at rates from well below to well above the Eddington rate. The importance of mass loss is…
The magnetic field is believed to play a critical role in the bulk acceleration and propagation of jets produced in active galactic nuclei (AGN). Polarization observations of AGN jets provide valuable information about their magnetic…
We propose a scenario for launching relativistic jets from rotating black holes, in which small-scale magnetic flux loops, sustained by disc turbulence, are forced to inflate and open by differential rotation between the black hole and the…
There is a resurgence of interest in black holes sparked by the LIGO-VIRGO detection of stellar black hole mergers and recent astronomical investigations of jets and accretion disks which probe the spacetime geometry of black holes with…
We have carried out 2D and 3D general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of jets launched self-consistently from accretion disks orbiting Kerr black holes and applied the results to the inner engine of the collapsar model of…
Extragalactic relativistic jets are engines able to carry out to large distances a huge amount of power, not only in the form of radiation, but especially in the form of kinetic energy of matter and fields. As such, they can be thought as…
In this proceeding we explore a pathway to radio-loudness under the hypothesis that retrograde accretion onto giant spinning black holes leads to the launch of powerful jets, as seen in radio loud QSOs and recently in LAT/Fermi and…
Jets associated with Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) have been observed for almost a century, initially at optical and radio wavelengths. They are now widely accepted as "exhausts" produced electromagnetically by the central, spinning, massive…
Magnetized accretion onto spinning black holes can accumulate a large magnetic flux across the event horizon and launch a pair of relativistic jets via the Blandford-Znajek mechanism. In the magnetically saturated (arrested) state, excess…
The current paradigm for radio-quiet AGNs is reviewed, taking into account new results from recent large-scale surveys carried out from the ground and from space. Topics include structure of the central engine, AGN demography,…
We propose a novel mechanism for powering the central engines of Active Galactic Nuclei through super-critical (type II) black hole collapse. In this picture, ~$10^3 M_\odot$ of material collapsing at relativistic speeds can trigger a…
The accretion/ejection coupling in accreting black hole binaries has been described by empirical relations between the X-ray/radio and X-ray/optical-infrared luminosities. These correlations were initially thought to be universal. However,…
We use results from simulations of the production of magnetohydrodynamic jets around black holes to derive the cosmic spin history of the most massive black holes. We assume that the efficiency of jet production is a monotonic function of…
Black hole feedback plays a central role in shaping the circumgalactic medium (CGM) of elliptical galaxies. We systematically study the impact of plasma physics on the evolution of ellipticals by performing three-dimensional non-ideal…
I explore a possibility to measure the gravitational redshift (GR) effect in the gravitational field of massive central nuclei residing in active galaxies (AGN). The activity of central nuclei is associated with the bipolar jet ejection of…
Powerful winds driven by active galactic nuclei (AGN) are often invoked to play a fundamental role in the evolution of both supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and their host galaxies, quenching star formation and explaining the tight…
Microquasars provide new insights into: 1) the physics of relativistic jets from black holes, 2) the connection between accretion and ejection, and 3) the physical mechanisms in the formation of stellar-mass black holes. Furthermore, the…
The majority of nearby radio-loud AGN are found in massive, old elliptical galaxies with weak emission lines. At high redshifts,however, most known radio AGN have strong emission lines. In this paper, we examine a subset of radio AGN with…
The formation of powerful extragalactic jets is not well understood at present as well as the associated key question:``What makes an AGN radio loud?''. Here we discuss how the combination of VLBI and X-ray spectroscopic observations allows…