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Recent advances in multi-messenger and time-domain astronomy are opening a new window onto the high-energy universe and transforming our understanding of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Observations across photons, neutrinos, and cosmic rays now make it possible to probe how supermassive black holes power some of the most extreme plasma environments in nature, including jets, coronae, and accretion flows. In this seminar, I will discuss how combining theory, simulations, and observations can help uncover the physical processes that accelerate particles and produce non-thermal emission in these systems. My work bridges large-scale magnetohydrodynamic simulations and first-principles Particle-in-Cell calculations to connect plasma dynamics across scales, from the immediate surroundings of black holes to observable multi-messenger signatures. By confronting these models with data, we can begin to identify AGNs as powerful cosmic accelerators and clarify their broader impact on their host galaxies. More broadly, this effort highlights how multi-messenger astrophysics is reshaping our picture of the role of high-energy emission around supermassive black holes in galaxy evolution.

BIO

Rostom is a Lyman Spitzer Fellow at Princeton University. Rostom is a theorist whose work sits at the intersection of plasma physics and high-energy phenomena, with a focus on Active Galactic Nuclei. His research spans particle acceleration, cosmic rays, high-energy neutrinos, and the dynamics of AGN coronae and jets, using tools ranging from first-principles plasma simulations to full magnetohydrodynamic modeling. He received his PhD in 2022 from the University of Chicago, where he worked under Damiano Caprioli and Scott Wakely, and subsequently held a Neil Gehrels Fellowship at the Joint Space Science Institute, a partnership between the University of Maryland and NASA Goddard.

Host: Dongzi Li