NOVAs : A Numerical Observatory of Violent Accreting systems

Séminaire IPAG de Fabien Casse (APC), jeudi 10 juin 2021, 11h00, IPAG seminar room

Over the last century, the existence of black holes in the Universe has slowly shifted from a mere mathematical solution of Einstein equations into a likely driver of some of the most powerful astrophysical sytems in the Universe. Very recent observations from the Gravity collaboration or from the Event Horizon Telescope has provided unprecedent pictures of the effect of the strong gravity of black hole upon matter orbiting in their close vicinity. The final proof of the existence of black hole has been given by the detection of gravitationnal waves compatible with the fusion of stellar black holes by the Ligo/Virgo collaboration.

However the study of these elusive astrophysical objects remains difficult because of their unability to produce direct radiative emission. Studying black holes can then only be achieved through the effect of their gravity upon their close vicinity.

In this seminar I will present an ongoing effort aiming at the development of a numerical observatory of black holes. Such observatory uses general relativistic numerical simulations to describe the dynamics of magnetized plasma around black holes but also takes into account the effect of their gravity upon the radiative emission of the plasma. I will then describe some applications of this numerical observatory on various kind of astrophysical systems.