SEMINAR: "Astrophysical Plasmas"

[Infopoint]

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SEMINAR

"Astrophysical Plasmas"

Professor Ehud Behar (Technion - Israel Institute of Technology)

20 March 2015

09:30 - 10:30

Budinich Lecture Room - ICTP Leonardo da Vinci Building

The seminar will describe the state of the art instrumentation for X-ray
spectroscopy on board satellites, both present and future. It will then
demonstrate some exquisite diagnostics of astrophysical plasmas. A few
examples of which are electron temperature measurements of active-galaxy
winds from their narrow radiative recombination continua, and the
spectroscopic detection of a shock contact discontinuity in a planetary
nebula based on the same spectral feature. We will then highlight
absorption measurements of outflows from supermassive black holes shined
on by gas falling into the black hole. These spectroscopic diagnostics
have been proven useful to constrain the physics of the outflowing
plasma, even when no complementary spatial information is available.
Finally, some relevant laboratory experiments will be described, as well
as ways to harness high quality laboratory measurements to astrophysical
diagnostics.

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