Quentin Pognan (Stockholm University) will present "Searching for Super-Eddington AGN"

Thursday 12 Mar 2020, 13:15 → 14:15 Europe/Stockholm

A5:1003 (AlbaNova University Center)

Abstract: Accretion onto black holes at rates above the Eddington limit has long been discussed in the context of supermassive black hole (SMBH) formation and evolution, providing a possible explanation for the presence of massive quasars at high redshifts (z >~ 7), as well as having implications for SMBH growth at later epochs. However, it is currently unclear whether such 'super-Eddington' accretion occurs in SMBHs at all, how common it is, or whether every SMBH may experience it. In this talk, I will present the work done to investigate the observational consequences of a simplistic model for super-Eddington accretion flows -- an optically thick, geometrically thin accretion disc (AD) where the inner-most parts experience severe photon-trapping, which is enhanced with increased accretion rate.