Spectroscopic studies of astrophysical sources with in-depth analyses of single sources as well as statistical analyses of large samples, using either standard techniques or new methodologies adopted in the last years.
The course will focus on the application of these techniques to the study of supermassive black holes, of active galactic nuclei and their interaction with host galaxies; the student will receive a complete overview of this research field and of its newest developments.
H. Netzer: “The physics and evolution of Active Galactic Nuclei”, ed. Cambridge.
Other textbooks will be eventually presented during classes.
Learning Objectives
At the end of the course, the student will have a deep knowledge of the techniques for the analysis of the spectroscopic data which are commonly used at X-rays, optical/near infrared and submm wavelengths. The student will also have a deep knowledge of the physical processes and open problems related to the study of supermassive black holes and active galactic nuclei. The student will also know the possible applications of these observational techniques to the field of medicine.
Prerequisites
Basic physics and astrophysics as requested for the first year of the astrophysics curriculum of the master.
Teaching Methods
Lectures with practical applications and exercises executed by the teachers. The students will receive all the necessary material to reproduce the practical applications and exercise.
Further information
Type of Assessment
Oral examination. The student will be requested to make a presentation on one of the course topics, during which she/he will be asked specific questions to better establish her/his level of comprehension. The exam will then be completed with questions on the other parts of the program.
Course program
The structure and the principal properties of the black hole, the accretion disks and the corona
X-ray spectroscopy: a test on General Relativity from the spectral analysis of active galactic nuclei, of absorption lines and ultra-fast outflows.
Broad Line Region, Narrow Line Region, Obscuring torus, Galaxy-Black Hole relation, outflows and feedback from active galactic nuclei. Studies of the physical properties of the ionized gas, photoionization models.
Optical and near-infrared spectroscopy: integral field spectroscopy and data cubes.
Gas kinematics and the measurement of black hole masses and of the physical properties of ionized outflows.
mm spectroscopy: the ALMA interferometer. The obscuring torus. The properties of host galaxies of active galactic nuclei. Physical properties of molecular winds.
Statistical analyses of large samples: spectral energy distributions and the study of the contributions of host galaxies and active galactic nuclei emission from the analysis of large optical (SDSS) and X-ray catalogues (XMM Newton e Chandra).
Luminosity functions and the cosmological evolution of active galactic nuclei and black holes.
The use of active galactic nuclei as standard candles for the determination of cosmological parameters.
Future instrumentations: space telescopes at X-ray and infrared wavelengths, the Extremely Large Telescope and the 30-m class telescopes.
Application of the spectroscopic data analysis techniques to the field of medicine, such as computerized axial tomography.