I am pleased to announce the release of my graduate course slides on “Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN)” on figshare, an open-access repository where researchers can preserve and share their academic output.

These slides were used in the August 2020 offering of the course at the Instituto de Astronomia, Geofísica e Ciências Atmosféricas, Universidade de Sao Paulo, and they encompass a comprehensive overview of the observational and theoretical aspects of AGN.

Course Content Highlights

The material covers a gamut of topics within the field of AGN research:

1. Introduction: A historical perspective and the basic concepts of black hole physics.
2. AGN zoo: The observational properties of AGNs, including the type I/II classification and the grand unification model.
3. Supermassive black hole detections: Techniques for measuring SMBH masses, from the shadow of a black hole to reverberation mapping.
4. Accretion physics: The physics of accretion flows, including various accretion states and models.
5. Jets: theory: Insights into jet formation and the Blandford-Znajek model.
6. AGN Feedback: The impact of AGN on their surrounding environments and their role in galaxy formation.
7. Open questions: Current unsolved mysteries in the field of AGN research.

Accessibility and Sharing

The course slides are accessible to anyone interested in the field – students, educators, and researchers alike. In the spirit of open science and to facilitate the broad dissemination of knowledge, I’ve chosen the “CC BY 4.0” license. This means that you are free to share, copy, and even adapt the material, as long as appropriate credit is given.

How to Access

You can find the slides directly on figshare under the title: “Lecture Slides: Graduate Course on Active Galactic Nuclei”.

I encourage you to use these slides as a resource for learning and teaching, and I hope they will spark further interest and research into the fascinating world of supermassive black holes and active galactic nuclei.

Acknowledgements

Credit for the slides and figures belongs to myself, with due acknowledgments given for adapted content from other sources as appropriate within the slides.

Stay curious, and happy learning!

I learned today that I was appointed as one of the new junior members of the Academia Brasileira de Ciências (ABC) [the Brazilian Academy of Sciences] for the period of 2015-2019! I am thrilled and feeling very honored with this opportunity!

Junior members of the ABC are scientists younger than 40 years old which are selected among the many thousands of Brazilian scientists due to their academic promise and outstanding productivity. I was appointed as one of the five junior members for the region of São Paulo.

The junior membership of ABC (membro afiliado da ABC) was created on 2007. As far as I can tell, I am the first astrophysicist ever appointed to this position.

See also: Docentes da USP são eleitos membros titulares da Academia Brasileira de Ciências.

One of my papers has been highlighted in the top ten space stories of 2013 in the January 2014 issue of the Astronomy Magazine!

My research is among other “high-impact” events of 2013 such as: Curiosity finding a once-habitable environment on Mars, the Planck satellite measuring the most detailed yet map of the cosmic microwave background and the once-in-a-century meteoroid that exploded over Chelyabinsk in Russia and others.

You can read this issue of the magazine here.