African VLBI Network Training Site

22 May 2019 16:30 - 17:30

Title: Astrophysical Radiation Mechanisms

Author: Prof Markus Böttcher
              Professor and SARChI Chair of Astrophysics and Space Physics
              Centre for Space Research
              North-West University, Potchefstroom 

Abstract:
This talk will provide a brief introduction to astrophysical radiation mechanisms, with emphasis on the mechanisms most relevant in high-energy sources, which are typically observed in radio and gamma-rays. We will discuss in more detail synchrotron radiation and Compton scattering, including spectral and polarisation signatures, as well as their cooling effect on relativistic electrons in astrophysical high-energy sources.

More about the author:

Markus Böttcher obtained his PhD. in 1997 from the University of Bonn, based on research conducted at the Max-Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn. He was a postdoctoral research fellow at Rice University, Houston, TX, USA, from 1997 - 2002, and was on the faculty (as assistant, associate, and full professor) of Ohio University, Athens, OH, USA, from 2002 - 2013. Since 2013, he holds the SARChI Chair of Astrophysics and Space Physics at North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa.

His primary research interests revolve around relativistic jet sources, such as active galactic nuclei, gamma-ray bursts, and X-ray binaries. He is involved in the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S., the world's largest ground-based gamma-ray observatory located in Namibia) collaboration and the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA, the future, next-generation ground based gamma-ray observatory) Consortium. He is the chair of the South African Gamma-Ray Astronomy Programme, co-ordinating the South African participation in H.E.S.S. and CTA.