Astronomy and Astrophysics Seminars

Timing a blazar: A novel Bayesian approach to describe the Central Engine of Blazar OJ 287

by Abhimanyu S. (DAA, TIFR)

Tuesday, August 11, 2020 from to (Asia/Kolkata)
at via ZOOM ( Link will be provided soon )
Description
The blazar OJ 287 exhibits quasi-periodic high-brightness optical flares which are modelled to arise from the presence of a highly relativistic eccentric supermassive black hole binary system emitting nanohertz gravitational waves in its centre. I present a computationally efficient and novel approach for estimating the outburst timings of OJ 287 in GR, and to extract system parameters in a Bayesian framework, which should help us to test GR in hitherto unexplored regimes. 

Additionally, I will list my contributions to the emerging Indian Pulsar Timing Array experiment that include the development of a pipeline for reducing uGMRT pulsar data.