Stellar and Gas Dynamics Near Supermassive Black Holes: Lessons from the Galactic Center

Speaker: Yuri Levin (Columbia)
Series: Galaxies Discussion Group
Also open online: the joining details are on the talk's page.

In this talk, I will discuss several interrelated topics concerning the environments of supermassive black holes: Young Stars near Sgr A: Their formation and dynamical evolution. Disc-Driven EMRIs: Extreme mass ratio inspirals potentially detectable by LISA. Magnetically Levitating Accretion Discs: Discs around supermassive black holes predominantly supported by the magnetic pressure of temporarily trapped, large-scale fields. Nuclear Star Cluster Phase Transitions: Thermodynamic transitions that are related to lopsided equilibria, which feature unique orbits of stellar-mass black holes. By connecting local observations of our own Galactic Center with broader theoretical models, I will highlight how these complex dynamics may shape galactic nuclei across the universe.