Where General Relativity, quantum electrodynamics, and plasma physics meet: first-principles models of emission from astrophysical black holes

Direct observations of hot gas around nearby supermassive black holes on the scale of the hole's event horizon will soon be in reach of the most powerful telescopes. The goal of this collaboration is to develop new numerical tools to perform the first ab-initio model of energetic particles and radiation being produced in the closest environment of a rotating black hole. This work will provide the most direct and self-consistent bridge between rigorous, first-principles simulations and astronomical observations of black holes.

UC PI:
Eliot Quataert
Department of Astronomy, UC Berkeley

France PI:
Benoît Cerutti
Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble, Université Grenoble Alpes