Speaker: Scott Hagen, Durham University

Title: Understanding the nature of the accretion flow in supermassive black holes

Abstract: Accretion onto supermassive black holes powers some of the most luminous objects in the Universe. However, the structure of this accretion flow is not well understood. Standard accretion disc models only match to zeroth order in predicting substantial energy dissipated within optically thick material producing a characteristic strong blue optical/UV continuum. More detailed comparisons to the observed spectral shapes fail, along with their ability to reproduce significant variability on moderate time-scales. In this talk I will show how new data points to a different picture of the accretion flow, and understanding this structure is key to interpreting the growth of black holes through cosmic time.