Active Galactic Nuclei XVI: A Sea of Discoveries

Session

S3 - Black Holes Across the Mass Scale and Time-Domain Probes: Exploring the accretion and ejection coupling through analogies and differences between supermassive black holes (SMBHs), intermediate and stellar-mass compact objects and through transient sources

16 Jun 2026, 12:15

Sala Conferenze presso Autorità di Sistema Portuale (Brindisi)

125. (Review) Accretion and jets in X-ray binaries

Sara Elisa Motta (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

16/06/2026, 12:15

Talk

The inflow of matter onto astronomical objects is connected to the generation of outflows throughout the Universe on a variety of scales, from proto-planetary disks, to merging neutron star systems and gamma ray bursts, to stellar mass and supermassive black holes.

The matter inflow/outflow processes scale predictably with mass, and proceeds according to the same basic principles around all...

168. (Highlight) Transient Probes of Intermediate-Mass Black Holes: TDEs and QPEs

Elisa Bortolas

16/06/2026, 14:35

Talk

144. A fundamental plane of black hole accretion in the millimetre

Dr Ilaria Ruffa (INAF - OAA)

16/06/2026, 14:55

Talk

The last three decades of observations have demonstrated that the mass of central super-massive black holes (SMBHs) correlates with a number of properties of their host galaxies, suggesting a connection between the growth of these massive compact objects and their host galaxy evolution (so-called "co-evolution”). Galaxy formation theories, however, still struggle to shed light on the physical...

50. Rising Tides in Active Galaxies: Nuclear Transients and Episodic Activity in NGC 7213, AT2021hdr, and SDSS J1335+0728

Dr Gabriele Bruni (INAF - Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali)

16/06/2026, 15:10

Talk

Recent time-domain surveys are revealing a growing population of nuclear transients that trace rapid changes in the accretion state of supermassive black holes. These events offer a unique opportunity to study how previously quiescent or weakly active nuclei transition into phases of enhanced accretion and variability. In this contribution I will present recent multiwavelength results on a...

118. Feeding a Black Hole with a star: Tidal Disruption Events in the Time Domain Astronomy Golden Age

Francesca Onori (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

16/06/2026, 15:25

Talk

When an unfortunate star wanders too close to a Super Massive Black Hole (SMBH) it can be destroyed by the strong tidal forces at play. These Tidal Disruption Events (TDE) are powerful transient sources which reveal the presence of dormant SMBHs in the low-mass regime. Thus, they represent an extraordinary laboratory for studying the properties of a population of SMBHs complementary to the...

78. HLX-1: a TDE on an Intermediate-Mass Black Hole?

Ms Maya Garbaccio Gili (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

16/06/2026, 15:40

Talk

Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) constitute the missing link between stellar-mass and supermassive black holes (BHs). As such, they are crucial to trace BH growth and its connection with galaxy evolution. However, their presence in the local universe remains elusive: less than a dozen X-ray-bright IMBH candidates have been found so far. Among these, ESO243-49 HLX-1 stands out as one of...

92. The Timedomes project: probing AGN populations through legacy optical monitoring campaigns.

Maurizio Paolillo (Università di Napoli Federico II)

16/06/2026, 15:55

Talk

The combination of past and new monitoring optical surveys is allowing to probe the intrinsic properties of accreting supermassive black holes through variability studies. I will present results of the Timedomes campaign to target the LSST Deep Drilling Fields in order to assemble a legacy dataset of AGN lightcurves going back more than 10 years down to magnitude limits comparable with LSST...