2018/04/27 by Beatriz Agı́s-González, Beatriz Agís González, Damien Hutsemékers +2
Physics and Astronomy · #Accretion (finance) #Accretion disc #Active galactic nucleus #Astronomy #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Optics #Physics #Polarimetry #Quasar #Scattering #Star formation #Supermassive black hole #Universe #astro-ph.GA #astro-ph.HE
paper · pdf · doi:10.3390/galaxies6020052
published as Galaxies 2018, 6(2), 52 · 9 pages, 1 figures, published by Galaxies under the special issue "The Bright Future of Astronomical X-ray Polarimetry"
openalex publication_date 2018/04/27 · arxiv created 2018/05/03 · arxiv updated 2018/05/07 · openalex created_date 2018/05/17 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Active galactic nuclei (AGN) produce the highest intrinsic luminosities in the Universe from within a compact region. The central engine is thought to be powered by accretion onto a supermassive black hole. A fraction of this huge release of energy influences the evolution of the host galaxy, and in particular, star formation. Thus, AGN are key astronomical sources not only because they play an important role in the evolution of the Universe, but also because they constitute a laboratory for extreme physics. However, these objects are under the resolution limit of current telescopes. Polarimetry is a unique technique capable of providing us with information on physical AGN structures. The incoming new era of X-ray polarimetry will give us the opportunity to explore the geometry and physical processes taking place in the innermost regions of the accretion disc. Here we exploit this future powerful tool in the particular case of changing-look AGN, which are key for understanding the complexity of AGN physics.