Optically thick accretion: theory and new developments

Wednesday, September 25, 2019 11:15 am - 11:15 am EDT (GMT -04:00)

Astronomy Seminar Series

Maciej Wielgus

I will discuss the optically thick models of accretion, including analytic models such as Shakura-Sunyaev's thin disk solution, slim disks and geometrically thick disks. I will talk about their properties, such as stability, angular momentum transport, and the importance of radiation. I will also present the numerical models, including recent general relativistic radiative magnetohydrodynamic simulations of "puffy disks", first such simulations of the accretion flow in the sub-Eddington mass accretion rate regime (arXiv:1908.08396).


Maciej (Maciek) Wielgus holds a BSc degree in mathematics from the University of Warsaw and MSc degree in robotics and automatic control from Warsaw University of Technology. He obtained PhD degree from Warsaw University of Technology in 2016 for the work on adaptive processing of interferometric fringe patterns. Some of his scientific interests involve simulations of radiatively inefficient accretion flows, accretion stability, and photospheric expansion X-ray bursts.

Currently Maciek is involved in the Event Horizon Telescope project, working on data calibration and imaging algorithms. He is also involved in global radiative simulations of relativistic accretion flows.