What is the nature of accretion onto Sgr A*?
Chris Matzner
University of Toronto


The massive black hole at the centre of the MIlky Way is remarkably dim for its mass, and efforts to understand this fact have led to proposals of new flow classes involving convection, winds, and poor electron coupling. I shall argue that the observational constraints point to a solution which is unlike most of these proposals, but which resembles simulations of "magnetically-frustrated" flows. These simulations make additional predictions, concerning the time dependence and rotational properties of the flow, which may be tested against future observations.

Date: Friday, 20 November 2009
Time: 12:30
Where: Université Laval
  Pavillon Alexandre-Vachon, Local 1661
Contact: Hugo Martel