Dr. John Everett
CITA

University of Florida Astronomy Colloquium - Feb 2nd, 2006

A Mighty Wind: The Physics of AGN Outflows

Observations of galactic nuclei have recently revealed mass outflows, or "winds", in a large fraction of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). In various observations, those outflows have velocities ranging from 500 km/s to 20% the speed of light. These data show how important outflows are to AGN activity, and they help us address questions about wind physics: most importantly, how are the winds launched? Are outflows thermally, radiatively, or magnetically driven? I will review both the observations and the theory of large-scale outflows from Active Galactic Nuclei, present results from all of the different outflow models, and apply those models to observations. These results, combined with new observations, hint that magnetic driving is a key component in explaining the variety of AGN outflows. I will end by outlining future research to further test that hypothesis.