Meeting Information

New Results on Black Holes from X-Ray Observatories

March 22, 2006
American Center for Physics
College Park, MD

Abstract

Deep x-ray surveys with the new generation of X-ray observatories (Chandra and XMM) have revolutionized our understanding of how many accreting massive black holes there are in the universe, when they were born and how they evolve. I will summarize some of these results. In addition, X-ray spectra of accreting black holes have shown the existence of spectral features from close to the event horizon. The analysis and interpretation of these data will give insights into how material flows into the central regions and, perhaps, on the physics of accretion. I will summarize some recent results from the new Japanese/US mission Suzaku on this phenomenon.

Biography

Education: B.S. - M.I.T., M.S. and Ph.D from U.C.S.D Senior Fellow, Senior Scientist at GSFC/NASA After his PhD he started as a NRC fellow at GSFC. Became a civil servant in 1979. He has been involved in the acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data from many of the x-ray spectroscopy and imaging experiments flown in the last 15 years. He is presently an interdisciplinary scientist on the Chandra science working group, a Suzaku science advisory group member and a mission scientist on the XMMNewton Science Advisory Group. Dr. Mushotzky has supervised the PhD thesis of 10 students and has worked closely with numerous post-doctoral research fellows and other graduate students. He has received the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement in 1983 and 2003, the NASA Exceptional Achievement award in 2000 and the GSFC Lindsay Award for Scientific Achievement in 1985. He has presented over 100 invited lectures at international meetings and universities/ He is a co-author of more than 280 referred publications in his field.