Princeton University Princeton Center for Theoretical Science (PCTS) Workshop - Day 1

One of the major outstanding issues in modern astrophysics is how initial black hole seeds in the early universe came to be formed, and consequently, how they grew into the typical present-day massive black holes that now reside at galaxy centers. This 3-day workshop aims to bring together theoreticians, observers and computational astrophysicists to discuss our current understanding and interpretation of accretion mechanisms for 1,000--1,000,000 solar mass black holes, their expected properties at the dawn of the Universe, and the connections between black hole seeds and the low-mass black holes residing in present-day dwarf galaxies and globular clusters. Such a conversation is particularly pertinent as the direct observable signatures of the first growing black hole seeds will finally be at our fingertips with the imminent launch of the James Webb Space Telescope in 2021, with additional foresight of relevant future missions such as the Wide-field Infrared Survey Telescope, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, the next generation VLA, and the Lynx X-ray Surveyor. Program Organizers: Andy Goulding, Jenny Greene and James StoneThis program is partially supported by The Kuncik-LaFleur Endowment for Princeton Physics and is affiliated with the Princeton University Gravity Initiative.