Accretion in strong gravity

The guiding theme of this seminar is the observation, the modelling and the theoretical description of accretion processes in systems where gravity is strong and nonlinear. Accreting matter are the objects which most closely approach compact objects like black holes or neutron stars and, therefore, are an ideal laboratory to explore the effects of strong gravity. Recently technological developments in observation techniques lead to a strongly improved accuracy in observing accretion discs and related phenomena. This trend will be continued in the next years, for instance with observations of ALMA and the James-Webb telescope, but also with survey telescopes like PanSTARRS or LSST. This development has to be paralleled by the theoretical description and modelling.

Basic open questions in accretion disc physics which will be discussed in this seminar include the description of viscosity and turbulence, in particular in the relativistic context, the effective equations of accretion, evolution of supermassive black holes, accretion discs in generalised theories of gravity, and GRMHD simulations. Summarized, the topics of this seminar are

• Observation of astrophysical accretion and related phenomena
• The basic equations of accretion and their structure
• Applications to accretion discs and the accretion process
• Numerical simulation of accretion in strong gravity

The conference language will be English. The Wilhelm and Else Heraeus-Foundation bears the cost of full-board accommodation for all participants.