Presentation: Observing the unobservable: a black hole primer by Prof. Sera Markoff
Black holes are one of the strangest byproducts of Einstein's Theory of General Relativity: objects so compact that not even light can escape. This oft-cited fact makes them sound a bit dangerous, but also somehow passive.
Surprisingly black holes contribute actively to, and interact with, their environments, via material that is ejected from just outside their event horizons. The effect of these interactions is an area of active study, and can even influence star formation and the growth of the galaxies on the largest scales in the Universe. To test General Relativity and to better understand the important role of black holes, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) global array of radio dishes began operations in 2017 and has been observing annually most years since.
In this lecture, Prof. Sera Markoff introduced black holes and cover the state-of-the-art in what we have been learning about them from the EHT. She also discussed the key expansion project of the EHT array via a new facility in Namibia, the Africa Millimetre Telescope (AMT).
Originally from the U.S., Sera Markoff is a full professor of theoretical high-energy astrophysics and astroparticle physics at the University of Amsterdam. She is a founding member of the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration (EHTC) and its Science Council, where she served most recently as Vice-Chair, and as of 2024 is a member of its new governing Science Board. She is also a member of the next-generation Cherenkov Telescope Array Consortium, building on the H.E.S.S. facility in Namibia. Her research, as well as her public outreach efforts, have been recognised by several major awards and prizes, including being named Fellow of the American Physical Society, Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts & Sciences (KNAW), the two top Dutch Research Council VIDI and VICI Personal Career Awards, and the Willem de Graaff Prize for Public Outreach of the Royal Dutch Astronomical Society.
As part of the EHTC she also shared several other major prizes such as the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, the Rossi Prize and the Einstein Medal. In December 2022, she and Professor Falcke in the Netherlands and Professor Fender in the UK were awarded 14 MEuro ERC Synergy Grant, ‘Blackholistic’, to bring together our understanding of black holes on all mass scales. A key component of this project will be the construction of the African Millimetre Telescope (AMT) in Namibia which will both extend dramatically the baseline coverage of the Event Horizon Telescope and work as a stand-alone transient monitoring facility.
This presentation was held on 22 August 2024 at the Namibia Scientific Society.
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