Connecting Theory to Observations

13-15 November 2023
Flatiron Institute, New York, USA

Black holes of all sizes demonstrate enigmatic flaring activity. Stellar-mass black holes show puzzling short time-scale variability, from optical to X-ray bands, and are notorious for their unexplained state transitions during outbursts. Supermassive black holes, on the other hand, can erupt in intense flares visible up to TeV energies. Thanks to their extreme nature, these flares offer a unique view into the functionality of the accretion flows around black holes.

This 2.5-day workshop brought together high-energy observers and plasma astrophysicists to discuss the latest observations and the most promising plasma energization theories for the flares. The main goals of the workshop were to 1) establish a common language between the communities and 2) lay out a future roadmap for the next crucial steps needed to advance our understanding of the black hole flaring phenomena. These goals were supported by providing ample discussion time and focusing on long review talks covering the state-of-the-art of both fields.

Programme

List of talks

Speaker	Talk
Alexandra Veledina	Variability in X-ray black hole binaries and its connection to accretion geometry
Qi Feng	TeV Gamma-Ray Variability in Blazars & more
Lorenzo Sironi	Particle acceleration in BH jets and coronae
Dmitri Uzdensky	Plasma physics of accretion flows
Philippov	Kinetic view into the BH magnetospheres
Joonas Nättilä	Radiation from magnetized plasmas
Andy Fabian	X-ray Spectroscopy of Luminous Black Holes
Manel Errando	X-ray polarization observations (IXPE)
Kun Hu	IXPE observations of blazars and stellar mass black holes
Vladislav Lotkev	Polarimetric Analysis of Black Hole X-ray Binaries
Frank Rieger	VHE Flares in Blazars and Radio Galaxies
Hayk Hakobyan	TeV Flaring of M87* powered by magnetic reconnection
Janeth Valverde	GeV Flare Characteristic in Blazars
Amelia Hankla	Kinetic and Two-Temperature Plasma Physics of Black Hole X-ray Coronae
Jordy Davelaar	Sagittarius A* as a testing laboratory
Kohta Murase	High-Energy Neutrinos from Supermassive Black Holes
Aharonian, Coppi, Mukherjee	Blazar Flares in the γ-ray Band

List of participants

• Alexandra Veledina
• Andy Fabian
• Ari Brill
• Dmitri Uzdensky
• Fabrizio Tavecchio
• Felix Aharonian
• Frank Rieger
• Hayk Hakobyan
• Joonas Nättilä
• Jordy Davelaar
• Kohta Murase
• Kun Hu
• Lorenzo Sironi
• Manel Errando
• Paolo Coppi
• Qi Feng
• Reshmi Mukherjee
• Samar Sari-Harb
• Sasha Philippov
• Yuri Levin

CDY Workshop Organizing Committee 

• Felix Aharonian
• Paolo Coppi
• Yuri Levin
• Reshmi Mukherjee
• Joonas Nättilä
• Jordy Davelaar