Cosmic Origins
16 July 2026
AGN Enthusiasts, we invite everyone to join us for the next AGN SIG Spotlight Series on July 21st at 1:00pm ET/10:00am PT. This month our Spotlight talks will feature Daniel Palumbo (Harvard University) presenting Spin Signatures in Horizon-Resolved Images of LLAGN and Daniel Delaney (University of Alaska) presenting Coupling Driven H2 Excitation in Seyferts: The GATOS Cycle 1 Sample.
Our Spotlight Series highlights recent advances in AGN science, with a strong emphasis on participation from early-career researchers, and includes plenty of time for community discussion following the presentations.
https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/programs/cosmic-origins/community/agn-sig-spotlight-series-21-july-2026
Spin Signatures in Horizon-Resolved Images of LLAGN
Speaker: Daniel Palumbo | Harvard University
Abstract:
With the advent of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), near-horizon black hole imaging with sub-mm very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) is now routine for the two sources for which terrestrial VLBI is sufficient to resolve the black hole shadow: Messier 87* and Sagittarius A*. Since the first images of M87*, the theoretical analysis of these images has advanced a broad class of black hole spin tracers in horizon-resolving observations, all of which have complex interplay with the astrophysical conditions near the horizon. Meanwhile, space VLBI mission concepts such as the Black Hole Explorer aim to drastically improve the angular resolution available via sub-mm VLBI, resolving out the primary accretion disk image to isolate the strongly lensed “photon ring,” which more robustly exposes black hole mass, spin, and viewing inclination to distant observers. In this talk, I will detail the spin signatures in both of these angular resolution regimes, and how they work together to build a “robustness ladder” for spin measurement with which the spins of many more low-luminosity AGN will soon become accessible as sub-mm VLBI sensitivity, frequency coverage, angular resolution improves. The resulting local “spin census” will help fill in missing pieces of the history of accretion and merging in the broader AGN population.
Coupling Driven H2 Excitation in Seyferts: GATOS JWST/MRS
Speaker: Daniel Delaney | University of Alaska
Abstract:
We utilize James Webb Space Telescope/Mid Infrared Instrument (JWST/MIRI) Integral Field Unit observations from the Galaxy Activity, Torus and Outflow Survey to investigate the diverse range of ionized outflow rates of obscured active galactic nuclei (AGN) with similar bolometric luminosity and explore potential associations with AGN feedback. We explore spatial correlations between ionized emission potentially associated with fast shocks ([Fe II]5.34μm) and the excitation of H2. We further constrain our investigation to the inner 400 pc (the nuclear and circumnuclear regions r < 200 pc), and estimate the excitation temperature and col ...