Invitation to the Public Lecture The First Image of a Black Hole
University of Nova Gorica invites to the public lecture The First Image of a Black Hole by Prof. Dr. Heino Falcke (Radboud University Nijmegen).
Lecture will take place on Thursday, 13 October 2022, at 10.30 a.m. at the Univerzitetno središče Ajdovščina, Vipavska cesta 11c, Ajdovščina.
Abstract:
One of the most bizarre, but perhaps also most fundamental predictions of Einstein’s theory of general relativity are black holes. They are extreme concentrations of matter with a gravitational attraction so strong, that not even light can escape. The inside of a black hole is shielded from observations by an event horizon, a virtual one-way membrane through which matter, light and information can enter but never leave. This loss of information, however, contradicts some basic tenets of quantum physics. Does such an event horizon really exist? What are its effects on the ambient light and surrounding matter? How does a black hole really look? Can one see it? In April 2019 we published the first image of a black hole ever made and detected its dark shadow in the radio galaxy M87 with the global Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) experiment. Detailed supercomputer simulations faithfully reproduce these observations. Simulations and observations together provide strong support for the notion that we are literally looking into the abyss of the event horizon of a supermassive black hole. In May 2022 the EHT published the first image of the black hole in the centre of our Milky Way, confirming the results of the 2019 image.
The talk will review the latest results of the Event Horizon Telescope, its scientific implications and future expansions of the array, as well as highlight the technical achievements of this project.
Prof. Dr. Heino Falcke:
Heino Falcke is professor of astroparticle physics and radio astronomy at Radboud University in The Netherlands. He is member of the Science Council of the Event Horizon Telescope and recipient of the Spinoza Prize, the highest science award in The Netherlands. He is author of “Light in the Darkness”, published in German in 2020 and meanwhile translated in more than 13 languages.
Lecture will be in English.
Live Stream On YouTube.
