Stony Brook University
When
TAP Colloquium
Rosalba Perna, Stony Brook University
Refreshments served at 3:00 pm in the 3rd floor atrium
Title: Electromagnetic Transients in the Disks of Active Galactic Nuclei
Abstract: The disks of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) have emerged as interesting environments for the evolution of stars and the compact objects they leave behind. The very high density of the medium, combined with torques from the gas, yield evolutionary paths for main sequence stars which differ from those in typical galaxies. Well known transient phenomena such as long and short GRBs may have a different-than-usual appearance when emerging from AGN disks, and new astrophysical phenomena, such as the accretion induced collapse of neutron stars to black holes, may be commonplace in AGN disks.
Bio: Rosalba Perna is a theoretical astrophysicist with a broad range of research interests, spanning high-energy astrophysics, cosmology, and exoplanets. She earned her undergraduate degree in Physics, as well as a conservatory degree in piano, in Italy. She then obtained her Ph.D. in Physics at Harvard University, followed by appointments as a Harvard Junior Fellow and a Lyman Spitzer Fellow at Princeton University. Dr. Perna has held faculty positions at the University of Colorado Boulder and, since 2014, at Stony Brook University, where she is a professor and served as Associate Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy from 2021 to 2024. She was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2014.