Unless otherwise noted, the Astrophysics Seminars take place on Monday, usually every other week, at 1:30pm in Aula Caldirola.


October 2025

October 6th

Speaker: Dr. Tullia Sbarrato (INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera)

Title: Mature jetted black holes in a young Universe: do they have a super-Eddington history?

Abstract: The formation and evolution of the first supermassive black holes (SMBHs) have been put in the spotlight after the discovery of few hundreds extremely massive quasars at high redshift. An interesting twist in our understanding of the matter was introduced by the discovery of an unusual number of jetted sources: X-ray observations of blazars (i.e. AGN with jets aligned to our LoS) at z>4 prove that the most massive active black holes are preferentially hosted in jetted quasars in the first Gigayear from the Big Bang. Jets might thus play a crucial role in fast assembling and accreting matter onto SMBHs. Weirdly, the z>4 blazar population does not show common signs of super-critical accretion. I will present our current knowledge about z>4 blazars, that trace a comprehensive view on jet, accretion and mass features of the M>10^9Msun jetted quasars population. Then I will explore the possibility that sustained super-Eddington episodes are key to launching relativistic jets. Finding jets accelerating in their earliest stages might be our best bet to catch in the act early super-critical evolution.

October 20th

Speaker: Dr. Davide Basilico (Università degli Studi di Milano)

Title: TBD

Abstract: TBD


November 2025

November 3rd

Speaker: Dr. Cristiano Longarini (University of Cambridge, UK)

Title: TBD

Abstract: TBD

November 17th

Speaker: TBD

Title: TBD

Abstract: TBD


Dicember 2025

December 1st

Speaker: TBD

Title: TBD

Abstract: TBD

December 15th

Speaker: Prof. Alvaro Hacar (University of Vienna)

Title: TBD

Abstract: TBD