Richard Anantua

I am a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) – Institute for Theory and Computation (ITC), and also a fellow of the Black Hole Initiative (BHI). My current research seeks to model emission near supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei, linking general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations of ever-increasing dynamical range to astronomical observations of ever-increasing spatiotemporal resolution. In particular, I relate GRMHD variables to the astrophysical plasma physics of equipartition, turbulent heating, current density and velocity shear to generate postprocessed images, spectra and light curves in order to understand and predict multiwavelength observational signatures from Sgr A*, M87 and 3C 279— targets of the Event Horizon Telescope.

A Glimpse into Supermassive Black Holes from “Observing” JAB Simulations

February 28, 2020

By Dr. Richard Anantua This past decade has been a landmark in the history of black hole astrophysics— bringing precise experimental confirmation to bear upon revolutionary predictions of Einstein’s general theory of relativity from just over a century ago. LIGO’s 2015 observation of the “chirp” signal characteristic of the merger of two black holes marked […]

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