Related papers: The AGN phenomenon: open issues
The origin of stellar-mass black hole mergers discovered through gravitational waves is being widely debated. Mergers in the disks of active galactic nuclei (AGN) represent a promising source of origin, with possible observational clues in…
We use three-dimensional high-resolution adaptive-mesh-refinement simulations to investigate if mechanical feedback from active galactic nucleus jets can halt a massive cooling flow in a galaxy cluster and give rise to a self-regulated…
In order to understand the physical mechanisms at work during the formation of massive early-type galaxies, we performed six zoomed hydrodynamical cosmological simulations of halos in the mass range 4.3 10^12 < M_vir < 8.0 10^13 M_sun at…
Observations of accreting black holes often provoke suggestions that their jets precess. The precession is usually supposed to result from a combination of the Lense-Thirring effect and accretion disc viscosity. We show that this is…
One of the major open questions related to the production of jets by accreting black holes is: why do sources with similar accretion powers produce so vastly different jet powers? What conditions are required to make a powerful jet? If jets…
While attempts to unify certain classes of AGN using orientation and environmental effects have been successful, it is widely recognized that intrinsic properties of the accreting black hole system also must play a role in determining the…
Cool outflows are now commonly observed in galaxies, but their physical origin and driving mechanism remain unclear. Active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback can potentially accelerate cool galactic outflows via cosmic rays (CR) and radiation…
Dynamical mechanisms are essential to exchange angular momentum in galaxies, drive the gas to the center, and fuel the central super-massive black holes. While at 100pc scale, the gas is sometimes stalled in nuclear rings, recent…
Radiation emitted from an accretion disk around a massive black hole is a widely discussed model for the UV/soft X-ray excess emission observed in the spectra of many AGN. A self-consistent calculation of the structure and the emerging…
In this paper we show that perturbations of the accretion flow within the central engines of active galctic nuclei (AGN) are likely to form shock waves in the accreting plasma. Such shocks, which may be either collisional or collisionless,…
Discovered over forty years ago, Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) remain a forefront topic in modern astrophysics. Perhaps the most fundamental question associated with GRBs is the nature of the astrophysical agent (or agents) that ultimately powers…
There is strong observational evidence that AGN, Galactic X-ray transients and (probably) $\gamma$-ray bursts are associated with black holes, and that these sources are able to form collimated, ultrarelativistic outflows. There is much…
Active galactic nuclei present continuum and line emission. The former is produced by the accretion disk and the jets, whereas the latter is originated by gas located close to the super-massive black hole. The small region where the broad…
Radio loud active galactic nuclei (AGN) are on average 1000 times brighter in the radio band compared to radio quiet AGN. We investigate whether this radio loud/quiet dichotomy can be due to differences in the spin of the central black…
Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are energetic astrophysical sources powered by accretion onto supermassive black holes in galaxies, and present unique observational signatures that cover the full electromagnetic spectrum over more than twenty…
Extragalactic jets are launched from the innermost regions of galaxies, near the central supermassive black hole. As they propagate, they must cross the whole galaxy, and in this process they interact with a variety of obstacles; including…
The ``central engine'' of AGN is thought to be powered by accretion on a central nucleus believed to be a super-massive black hole. The localization and exact mechanism of the energy release in AGN are still not well understood. We present…
Active galactic nuclei present continuum and line emission. The emission lines are originated by gas located close to the central super-massive black hole. Some of these lines are broad, and would be produced in a small region called…
The cores of active galactic nuclei (AGN) harbor some of the most extreme conditions of matter and energy in the Universe. One of the major goals of high-energy astrophysics is to probe these extreme environments in the vicinity of…
Radio-loud active galactic nuclei are among the most powerful objects in the universe. In these objects, most of the emission comes from relativistic jets getting their power from the accretion of matter onto supermassive black holes.…