Research Projects

Supermassive blackholes at the center of galaxies launch strong outflows, such as wide-angled non-relativistic winds and collimated relativistic jets, which are crucial for the evolutionary cycle of galaxies. Understanding these outflows and their dependence on physical parameters is essential in astrophysics. The proposed project aims to investigate emission from outflows driven by blackholes, which are a key science question for scientific missions. The project will build on existing ties between the PIs, who are major developers of the PLUTO code for large-scale astrophysical simulations. The project will investigate the dynamics of both relativistic jets and non-relativistic winds with lower powers and smaller spatial extents. The PLUTO project aims to develop a new module to seed turbulent magnetic fields in the ambient environment, account for feedback from radiative losses, model inverse-Compton losses due to AGN radiation, and include second-order fermi acceleration. After implementing these modules, the project will run relativistic magneto-hydrodynamic simulations of kilo-parsec scale outflows of both relativistic jets and non-relativistic winds. The timeline for the project includes implementing turbulent magnetic field feedback, modifying the code structure, and running large-scale simulations.