Gravity Seminar: Electromagnetic Transients in the Disks of Active Galactic Nuclei, Rosalba Perna, Stony Brook University

The disks of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) have emerged as interesting environments for the evolution of stars and the compact objects they leave behind. The very high density of the medium, combined with  torques from the gas, yield evolutionary paths for main sequence stars which differ from those in typical galaxies. Well known transient phenomena such as long and short GRBs may have a different-than-usual appearance when emerging from AGN disks, and new astrophysical phenomena, such as the accretion induced collapse of neutron stars to black holes, may be commonplace in AGN disks.