RASC Mississauga: Understanding Quasars (and their extremely(!) high velocity outflows)

Speaker: Dr. Paola Rodriguez Hidalgo

Quasars are among the most luminous objects in the sky. These very energetic regions lie at the center of massive galaxies and powered by a super-massive black hole. While it has been found that there is a correlation between the mass of these super-massive black holes and the mass of the surrounding galaxies, the co-evolution of galaxies and quasars is barely understood. Outflows launched from the vicinity of super-massive black holes are a key piece in this puzzle, possibly linking the small and the large scale phenomena. We have discovered that some of this gas is outflowing at very high speeds (up to 216 million km/h!). To better characterize these outflows, our group is conducting an encompassing multi-wavelength study of quasar outflows. All these results have implications for current theoretical models and will help us better understand quasars.

Paola Rodriguez Hidalgo, from Spain, studied at the Instituto of Astrofisica de las Islas Canarias, did her PhD at the University of Florida, a postdoctoral position at the Pennsylvania State University, another postdoctoral position at York University, was a visiting assistant professor at the University of Toronto and is currently back to YorkU as a Research Associate. She loves astronomy (obviously!), music and touring the city.

Who can attend: Everyone
Fee: Free
Reservations: Not required
Organized by: RASC - Mississauga Centre
Location: University of Toronto Mississauga, William Davis Building, Lecture Hall SE2082, 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, ON  L5L 1C6. Enter off Mississauga Road. Park in lot 4 or the parkade across from the fitness centre south of the Davis Building. Enter through the Fitness centre, walk up the stairs until you reach the main corridor then turn right. (If you need an elevator, follow the corridor to the right of the stairs, then go up to the main floor.) Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room.

http://earthshineastronomy.ca/events/2015/5/22/rasc-mississauga-centre-meeting-may-22-2015