The Quest for Dual and Binary SMBH in Multi-messenger Era
IFPU
13-17 January 2025
The identification and physical characterization of dual (i.e., on kpc scale) Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and supermassive black hole (SMBH) binaries (at sub-kpc/pc scale) play a fundamental role in extragalactic astronomy and fundamental physics. Such systems allow us to observationally constrain the galaxy merger rate and study processes playing out from the initial galactic mergers to SMBH coalescence. Besides, as potential sources of low-frequency gravitational waves (GWs), SMBH binaries probe gravity at its extremes. Dual AGN and SMBH binaries are therefore primary sources for multi- messenger observations. The Focus Week is meant to provide the framework where strategies to observe these systems, theories and simulations are discussed and rigorously compared, setting the stage for new ambitious observing programs, including ground- and space-based telescopes. An in-depth discussion of opportunities with the forthcoming facilities will pave the way for the generation of young astronomers.
Organisers:
- Cristian Vignali (Universitay of Bologna)
- Alessandra De Rosa (INAF−IAPS, Rome)
- Paola Severgnini (INAF−OAB, Milan)
Participants:
- Cristian Vignali (Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia “Augusto Righi”, Università di Bologna, Italy)
- Alessandra De Rosa (INAF-IAPS, Roma, Italy)
- Paola Severgnini (INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Milano, Italy)
- Stefano Bianchi (Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Italy)
- Roberto Serafinelli (Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile)
- Ivan Delvecchio (INAF-OAS, Bologna, Italy)
- Jasbir Singh (INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Milano, Italy)
- Lorenzo Battistini (Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Italy)
- Manali Parvatikar (Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata, Roma, Italy)
- Martina Scialpi (Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Firenze, Italy)
- Lorenzo Ulivi (Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Firenze, Italy)
- Quirino D’Amato (INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Italy)
- Fabio Rigamonti (INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Milano, Italy)
- Michele Perna (Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC–INTA, Madrid, Spain)
- Stefanie Komossa (Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Bonn, Germany)