Bibcode
Brenneman, L.; Miller, J.; Nantra, P.; Volonteri, M.; Cappi, M.; Matt, G.; Kitamoto, S.; Paerels, F.; Mendez, M.; Smith, R.; Nowak, M.; Garcia, M.; Watson, M.; Weisskopf, M.; Terashima, Y.; Ueda, Y.
Bibliographical reference
Astro2010: The Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey, Science White Papers, no. 26
Advertised on:
0
2009
Citations
8
Refereed citations
7
Description
Since the seminal work of Penrose (1969) and Blandford & Znajek
(1977), it has been realized that black hole spin may be an important
energy source in astrophysics. The radio-loud/radio-quiet dichotomy in
the AGN population is usually attributed to differences in black hole
spin, with correlations between black hole spin and host galaxy
morphology being hypothesized in order to explain why radio-loud AGN
occur in early-type galaxies. X-ray observations are uniquely able to
answer: Does black hole spin play a crucial role in powering
relativistic jets such as those seen from radio-loud active galactic
nuclei (AGN), Galactic microquasars, and Gamma-Ray Bursts? Indeed, the
importance of black hole spin goes beyond its role as a possible power
source: the spin of a supermassive black hole is a fossil record of its
formation and subsequent growth history.