TP4
PROF. DR. FELIX SPANIER
Prof. Dr. Felix Spanier from North-West University, Potchefstroom, Southafrica, is a guest of Prof. Dr. Reinhard Schlickeiser (TP IV) and will give a talk on "Emission mechanisms in AGN - a non-linear puzzle" in the seminar "Space and Astrophysics" on 09.12.2014 at 14:15 in NB 7/67. Interested parties are welcome to attend!
Abstract: Active Galactiv Nuclei are nowadays one of the most interesting objects of extragalactic astronomy. Their wideband spectrum and their extreme properties - in terms of energy as well as in terms of variability - can be studied with recent experiments like HESS and Fermi. Although the amount of observational data is increasing rapidly, we do not yet understand the intrinsic mechanics of these objects. While there is consensus that AGN host populations of nonthermal particles, it is neither clear whether these are only leptons or also protons nor is it clear, which emission mechanism plays a role.
In my talk I want to outline the problems in understanding the emission mechanisms. One of the major problems is the nonlinear coupling of different processes, which effectively prevents a simple linear analysis and a mapping of observational spectra and internal parameters. I will present different approaches of modeling AGN, their predictions and their pitfalls.