UMD_CMNS_Physics_S1_CMYK

Minicourse on Black Hole Imaging

Date
Wed, Oct 5, 2022 10:00 am - 11:15 am
Location
PSC 3150

Description

Sam Gralla from the University of Arizona (formerly, an Einstein postdoctoral fellow at UMD) is visiting UMD the week of Oct 3. He will be giving the inaugural Misner Lecture in Gravitational Physics titled "Black Holes: Seeing the Unseeable" on October 4th, 4-5pm.

https://science.umd.edu/events/misner-2022.html

Sam has also kindly agreed to give a set of more technical lectures titled "Minicourse on Black Hole Imaging".


This set of three lectures is aimed at students and researchers looking to learn more about black hole imaging.  They assume a working knowledge of physics at the advanced undergraduate level, but are otherwise agnostic to background.  I do not assume any knowledge of general relativity, but relativists will find useful information in footnotes and appendices [in the lecture notes that will be made available].
Lecture 1: Monday, October 3, 11:00-12:15 in PSC 3150  (coffee and light snacks will be provided)

      Theory: Observational appearance of sources near black holes


Lecture 2: Wednesday, October 5, 10:00-11:15 in PSC 3150  (coffee and light snacks will be provided)

      Experiment: Interferometry and the EHT measurements


Lecture 3: Friday, October 7, 12:00-1:15 in PSC 2136  (sandwiches, etc. will be provided)

      The Future: Photon ring and precision gravity

Some questions I hope to answer (or lead you to your own answers!):
* How should we interpret the famous "black hole image"?
* What do the measurements teach us about accretion or gravity?
* What will we learn with future measurements?