Workshop Links

The program (talks and posters) is available at the link above

Pre-registration is now closed. You may register on-site starting at 7:30 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 15. The on-site registration fee is $420, or $300 for students.


The Joint Space-Science Institute -- consisting of astronomers, astrophysicists and physicists from the University of Maryland and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center -- is hosting a cross-cutting workshop to examine the physics and astrophysics of energy flows in and around black holes. We plan to bring together 80-100 scientists from around the world to discuss many aspects of observations, phenomenology, fundamental theory, and how they all fit together. Sessions will be organized around broad questions:
  • What are the observations that we need to explain?
  • How is plasma physics important for understanding accretion?
  • What interesting particle physics takes place near black holes?
  • How does black hole spin modulate the nature of the emitted energy?
  • What can observations of black holes tell us about the theory of gravity?
  • What can we learn from emissions from merging black holes?

Speakers will include: Nahum Arav (Virginia Tech), Steven Balbus (École Normale Supérieure), Amy Barger (Wisconsin), Mark Birkinshaw (Bristol), Roger Blandford (KIRPAC/Stanford), Tamara Bogdanovic (Maryland), Andy Fabian (Cambridge), Ted Jacobson (Maryland), Julian Krolik (Johns Hopkins), Kristen Menou (Columbia), Richard Mushotzky (Maryland), Angela Olinto (Chicago), Tsvi Piran (Hebrew U. of Jerusalem), Günter Sigl (Hamburg), and Nico Yunes (Princeton).          

Participants are also encouraged to submit an abstract for a talk (about a dozen will be selected to complement the invited speakers above) or for a poster, which will be on display for all three days of the workshop. Abstract submission is handled as part of the online registration process.

Please join us! Online registration and abstract submission are now open. We encourage you to register early to get the lowest registration fee. Discounted registration fees are available to students.

For further information about the workshop program, please contact Chris Reynolds (chris@astro.umd.edu) or Peter Shawhan (pshawhan@umd.edu). For registration questions or issues, send email to jsiworkshopregistration@umd.edu .