Joint IAS Princeton University Astrophysics Colloquium

Apr
19
2016

Institute for Advanced Study/Princeton University Joint Astrophysics Colloquium

Characteristic Scales in the CGM and IGM
Peng Oh
11:00am|Princeton University, Peyton Hall, Room 145
An increasing number of QSO absorption line observations have suggested a population of dense (n ~ 1 cm^-3), compact (r ~ 30 pc) photoionized clouds out near the virial radius of galactic halos. This appears theoretically puzzling. We show this is...
Apr
12
2016

Institute for Advanced Study/Princeton University Joint Astrophysics Colloquium

The Extreme Energy Cosmic Frontier
Angela Olinto
11:00am|Princeton University, Peyton Hall, Room 145
Thanks to giant extensive air-showers observatories, such as the Pierre Auger Observatory and the Telescope Array (TA), we now know that the sources of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) are extragalactic. We also know that either they interact...
Mar
29
2016

Institute for Advanced Study/Princeton University Joint Astrophysics Colloquium

The Most Common "Peculiar" Supernova
Ryan Foley
11:00am|Princeton University, Peyton Hall, Room 145
In the last decade, transient surveys have identified several new types of supernovae (SNe). These new events represent astrophysical phenomena that are either less luminous or rarer than the more prevalent classes of SNe Ia, II, Ib, and Ic. I will...
Mar
22
2016

Institute for Advanced Study/Princeton University Joint Astrophysics Colloquium

The Hidden Monsters: Obscured AGN in the era of NuSTAR and WISE
Ryan Hickox
11:00am|Princeton University, Peyton Hall, Room 145

The study of powerful, highly obscured accreting black holes has recently seen dramatic advances with hard X-ray observations from NuSTAR and mid-infrared data from WISE. These "hidden" obscured quasars were for a long time elusive, but we can now...

Mar
15
2016

Institute for Advanced Study/Princeton University Joint Astrophysics Colloquium

The Journey of High-Energy Photons in Blazar Jets
Lorenzo Sironi
11:00am|Princeton University, Peyton Hall, Room 145
We investigate the origin and the fate of high-energy photons in blazar jets, by means of first-principles particle-in-cell (PIC) kinetic simulations. In magnetically-dominated jets, magnetic reconnection is often invoked as a mechanism to transfer...
Mar
08
2016

Institute for Advanced Study/Princeton University Joint Astrophysics Colloquium

A Massive Gravity Primer
Rachel A Rosen
11:00am|Princeton University, Peyton Hall, Room 145

The predictions of General Relativity (GR) have been confirmed to a remarkable precision in a wide variety of tests. In addition, consistent and well-motivated modifications of the theory of GR have been notoriously difficult to obtain. However...