itle: BlackHoleWeather – Unveiling black hole feeding and feedback via high-performance computing simulations
Tutor: Prof. Massimo Gaspari
Abstract: Most of the ordinary matter in the Universe is in the form of a tenuous gas that fills galaxies, groups, and clusters of galaxies. These cosmic atmospheres are shaped by complex thermo-hydrodynamical processes – akin to Earth weather – with the central supermassive black hole (SMBH) acting as a cosmic thermostat over scales of 10 orders of magnitude. We have entered a Golden Age for black hole astrophysics. BlackHoleWeather aims to tackle key modern open questions: 1. macro feeding: what is the evolution of the condensation out of the diffuse cosmic halos and tied formation of filaments, stars, and compact objects; 2. micro feeding: how the multiphase rain (chaotic cold accretion) is fed down through the SMBH horizon via diffusion processes; 3. micro feedback: how the gas matter and energy is re-ejected back by the SMBH and deposited via jets, outflows, and radiation; 4. macro feedback: what is the role of turbulence, dust, cosmic rays, conduction, viscosity, and plasma physics; 5. self-regulation: how the cycle of SMBH feeding and feedback shapes galaxies throughout cosmological evolution. For this theoretical sector, BlackHoleWeather will leverage high-performance computing (HPC) to develop and analyze 3D high-resolution magneto-hydrodynamical (MHD) simulations, carried out with state-of-the-art astrophysical CPU or GPU codes (such as FLASH4, Athena++, and Gamer2).
Collaborations: Princeton U. (USA), MIT (USA), NASA Centers (USA), INAF Observatories (Italy), NTU (Taiwan), CfA (USA), UniBo (Italy), et al.
References:
see Gaspari et al. 2020 (Nature Astronomy; Figure 1 and references within, for a brief review).
For further details, please contact massimo.gaspari@unimore.it

Title: BlackHoleWeather – Unveiling black hole feeding and feedback via multiwavelength observations
Tutor: Massimo Gaspari (Prof. Ordinario – UniMoRe)
Abstract: Most of the ordinary matter in the Universe is in the form of a tenuous gas that fills galaxies, groups, and clusters of galaxies. These cosmic atmospheres are shaped by complex thermo-hydrodynamical processes – akin to Earth weather – with the central supermassive black hole (SMBH) acting as a cosmic thermostat over scales of 10 orders of magnitude. We have entered a Golden Age for black hole astrophysics. BlackHoleWeather aims to tackle key modern open questions: 1. macro feeding: what is the evolution of the condensation out of the diffuse cosmic halos and tied formation of filaments, stars, and compact objects; 2. micro feeding: how the multiphase rain (chaotic cold accretion) is fed down through the SMBH horizon via diffusion processes; 3. micro feedback: how the gas matter and energy is re-ejected back by the SMBH and deposited via jets, outflows, and radiation; 4. macro feedback: what is the role of turbulence, dust, cosmic rays, conduction, viscosity, and plasma physics; 5. self-regulation: how the cycle of SMBH feeding and feedback shapes galaxies throughout cosmological evolution. For this observational sector, BlackHoleWeather will leverage real and synthetic observations in the X-ray, optical, and radio bands. We will analyze (or generate) datasets of state-of-the-art multi-messenger observatories that are continuously discovering cosmic hot halos (Chandra, XMM, Athena, XRISM) and cold gas (JWST, HST, MUSE, ALMA) in a wide range of galaxies, groups, and clusters of galaxies.
Collaborations: Princeton U. (USA), MIT (USA), NASA Centers (USA), INAF Observatories (Italy), NTU (Taiwan), CfA (USA), UniBo (Italy), et al.
References:
see Gaspari et al. 2020 (Nature Astronomy; Figure 1 and references within, for a brief review).
For further details, please contact massimo.gaspari@unimore.it