CRA SEMINAR | Vikram Manikantan | UN of Arizona | Host: Dr. Matthew Liska

Speaker: Vikram Manikantan

Host: Dr. Matthew Liska

Title: Multimessenger Modeling of Supermassive Binary Black Holes with Next-Generation GRMHD Simulations

 Abstract:                                                                                                                                       Supermassive binary black holes (SMBBHs) are expected to be excellent mHz gravitational wave (GW) sources that also emit across the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum. However, electromagnetically identifying SMBBHs to prepare for and complement future GW observations remains a fundamental challenge facing our field. In this talk, I will discuss our efforts to self-consistently model multimessenger emission from SMBBHs during their late inspiral through merger with state-of-the-art numerical simulations in full general relativity. I will describe smoking-gun synchrotron emission from eccentric SMBBHs, the importance of magnetic reconnection and eruptions in shaping the accretion flow near the binary, the potential for a magnetically arrested cavity, and the longest general-relativistic simulation of SMBBH accretion to date. Finally, I will outline our efforts to develop a next-generation, GPU-accelerated code to model SMBBH accretion with radiation transport at unprecedented resolutions and durations.