VR travel grant application to attend a conference "Growing Black Holes:
Accretion in a Cosmological Context"
21-25 June, 2003, Garching (Germany)
=Homepage http://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/~bh-grow/
=My invited lecture: Efficiency of super-Eddington accretion
1. The VR travel form
=download the completed form
2. Detailed motivation for the travel
3. Personal invitation as a speaker at the conference 
Subject: Growing Black Holes 
From:    Rashid Sunyaev  
Date:    Tue, February 10, 2004 11:12 pm 
To:      marek@fy.chalmers.se  
 
Dear Prof. Abramowicz, Dear Marek,

may I remind you about our Conference "Growing Black Holes: Accretion in a
Cosmological Context", to be held in Garching next June, 21-25 (please
see the conference web-site at http://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/~bh-grow/). 

It seems that till now we do not have any talk describing  possible models
of strongly super-Eddington luminosities in connection with the
subject of black holes growth. It is important also to discuss
theoretical models that allow strongly super-Eddington accretion and
only slightly super-Eddington luminosities. As you well know, 
the best models of this type were proposed by Polish scientists long
ago. Would you be able in a 20-25 minutes talk to describe the main
achievements of the models, including a discussion of the efficiency
of super-Eddington accretion as a function of the accretion rate?

Other relevant issues would be the following: Is it possible to get 
accretion rates 1000 times larger than the value corresponding to 
Eddington limit? How stable are these solutions? 

It would be great if you could mention the paper by J. Ostriker about
QSOs growth by capture of weakly interacting dark matter, and also remind 
people about solutions like the very old sketch I proposed with N. Shakura, 
where matter is outflowing and luminosity might grow as the logarithm 
of the accretion rate at the outer boundary (for your information, Andrew 
King will also be speaking about outflows from luminous Quasars at the 
conference). Obviously we should mention the latest results of Mitch 
Begelmann.

Are you interested in such a talk? If yes, it will be included
into the list of key talks in the second circular, that we plan to
send out very soon, as a part of the session devoted to the issue: 
What sets QSO lifetimes and accretion efficiency? For your information, 
I attach the first circular, with a detailed list of topics to be 
discussed.

Best Regards,

Rashid Sunyaev
4. Curriculum vitae
Name: Marek A. Abramowicz
9 June 1945, Chelm, Poland
Citizenship: Polish, Swedish
Married to: Henryka Kozicka
Daughter: Weronika Abramowicz
Son: Tomasz Abramowicz
Undergraduate studies:
University of Wroclaw
astronomy, mathematics
Master 1968
Graduate studies:
Warsaw University
theoretical physics
Ph.D. 1974
Supervisor: Andrzej Trautman
Hablitation:
Göteborg University 2000
Present position (permanent):
Professor of Astrophysics
and Chair
Göteborg University
Past professorships:
SISSA, Trieste
University of Catania
Nordita, Copenhagen
I am Professor of Astrophysics (Chair) at Göteborg University and Chalmers University of Technology. In 1974 I earned my Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Warsaw University. After that I worked for several years at Stanford University and University of Texas at Austin. Later, for more than a decade, I collaborated closely with Dennis Sciama, first at Oxford University and then at the International School for Advanced Studies in Trieste. For twenty years I was a member of the Academic Board at the Salam's International Centre of Theoretical Physics in Trieste. In 1990-1994 I was professor of astrophysics at Nordita, the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics in Copenhagen. My interests include accretion discs theory, active galactic nuclei, neutron stars, black holes, nature of inertial forces and quantum effects in strong gravity. I supervised more than ten doctorates, and published more than 150 research articles.
5. List of publications 1999-2004
  1. I.V. Igumenshchev, A.F. Illarionov and M.A. Abramowicz
    Hard X-Ray-emitting Black Hole Fed by Accretion of Low Angular Momentum Matter
    The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 517, 55L (1999)
  2. M.A. Abramowicz
    Gravitational radiation in optical geometry applied to super-compact stars
    Physics Reports, 311, 325 (1999)
  3. I.V. Igumenshchev and M.A. Abramowicz
    Rotating accretion flows around black holes: convection and variability
    Monthly Notices of the Royal astronomical Society, 103, 309 (1999)
  4. V. Karas, B. Czerny, Abrassart and M.A. Abramowicz
    A cloud model of active galactic nuclei: the iron Ka line diagnostics
    Monthly Notices of the Royal astronomical Society, 318, 547 (2000)
  5. I.V. Igumenshchev and M.A. Abramowicz
    Two-dimensional Models of Hydrodynamical Accretion Flows into Black Holes
    The Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series, 130, 463 (2000)
  6. R. Narayan, I.V. Igumenshchev and M.A. Abramowicz
    Self-similar Accretion Flows with Convection
    The Astrophysical Journal, 539, 798 (2000)
  7. I.V. Igumenshchev, M.A. Abramowicz and R. Narayan
    Numerical Simulations of Convective Accretion Flows in Three Dimensions
    The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 537, 27L (2000)
  8. M.A. Abramowicz, J.-P. Lasota and I.V. Igumenshchev
    On the absence of winds in advection-dominated accretion flows
    Monthly Notices of the Royal astronomical Society, 314 775 (2000)
  9. M.A. Abramowicz, G. Björnsson and I.V. Igumenshchev
    Accretion Disks Phase Transitions: 2-D or Not 2-D?
    Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan, 52, 295 (2000)
  10. S. Sonego, J. Almergren M.A. Abramowicz
    Optical geometry for gravitational collapse and Hawking radiation
    Physical Review D, 62, 4010 (2000)
  11. M.A. Abramowicz, W. Kluzniak, J.-P. Lasota
    The centrifugal force reversal and X-ray bursts
    Astronomy and Astrophysics, 374, L16 (2001)
  12. M.A. Abramowicz, I.V. Igumenshchev
    How Dim Could Accreting Black Holes Be?
    The Astrophysical Journal Letters 554, 53L (2001)
  13. M.A. Abramowicz, W. Kluzniak
    A precise determination of black hole spin in GRO J1655-40
    Astronomy and Astrophysics, 374, L19 (2001)
  14. W. Kluzniak and M.A. Abramowicz
    Strong field gravity and orbital resonance in black holes and neutron stars --- kHz quasi periodic oscillations
    Acta Physica Polonica B, B32, 3605 (2001)
  15. M.A. Abramowicz, L. Rezzolla, S. Yoshida
    General relativistic Rossby-Haurwitz waves of a slowly and differentially rotating fluid shell
    Classical and Quantum Gravity, 19, 191 (2002)
  16. M.A. Abramowicz, I.V. Igumenshchev, E. Quataert, R. Narayan
    On the Radial Structure of Radiatively Inefficient Accretion Flows with Convection
    The Astrophysical Journal 565, 1101 (2002)
  17. R. Narayan, E. Quataert, I.V. Igumenshchev, M.A. Abramowicz
    The Magnetohydrodynamics of Convection-dominated Accretion Flows
    The Astrophysical Journal 577, 295 (2002)
  18. M.A. Abramowicz, I. Bengtsson, V. Karas, K. Rosquist
    Poincare ball embeddings of the optical geometry
    Classical and Quantum Gravity 19, 3963 (2002)
  19. M.A. Abramowicz, G.J.E Almergren, W.Kluzniak, A.V Thampan and F. Wallinder
    Holonomy invariance, orbital resonances and kilohertz QPOs
    Classical and Quantum Gravity 19, L57 (2002)
  20. M.A. Abramowicz, W.Kluzniak, and J.-P. Lasota
    No observational proof of the black-hole event-horizon
    Astronomy and Astrophysics 396, L31 (2002)
  21. M.A. Abramowicz, and W.Kluzniak
    Epicyclic Orbital Oscillations in Newton's and Einstein's Dynamics
    General Gravity and Gravitation 31, 69 (2003)
  22. M.A. Abramowicz, V. Karas, W. Kluzniak, W.H. Lee, P. Rebusco
    Non-Linear Resonance in Nearly Geodesic Motion in Low-Mass X-Ray Binaries
    Publication of Astronomical Society of Japan 55, 467 (2003)
  23. M.A. Abramowicz, T. Bulik, M. Bursa, W. Kluzniak
    Evidence for a 2:3 resonance in Sco X-1 kHz QPOs
    Astronomy \& Astrophysics Letters 404, 21 (2003)
  24. M.A. Abramowicz
    Book Review: Black Hole Gravitohydromagnetics. By Brian Punsly. 395p. Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, 2001
    General Relativity and Gravitation 35, 113 (2003)
  25. I.V. Igumenshchev, R. Narayan, M.A. Abramowicz
    Three-dimensional Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Radiatively Inefficient Accretion Flows
    The Astrophysical Journal 592, 104 (2003)
  26. R. Narayan, I.V. Igumenshchev, M.A. Abramowicz
    Magnetically Arrested Disk: an Energetically Efficient Accretion Flow
    Publications of Astronomical Society of Japan Letters 55, 55 (2003)
  27. W.H. Lee, M.A. Abramowicz, W. Kluzniak
    Resonance in Forced Oscillations of an Accretion Disk and Kilohertz Quasi-periodic Oscillations
    The Astrophysical Journal Letters 603, 93 (2004)
  28. W. Kluzniak, M.A. Abramowicz, S. Kato, W.H. Lee, N. Stergioulas
    Nonlinear Resonance in the Accretion Disk of a Millisecond Pulsar
    The Astrophysical Journal Letters 603, 89 (2004)
6. A short description for the purpose of the conference

Topics to be discussed: Were black holes seeds or by-products of galaxy formation?; The growth of SMBHs due to mergers, accretion and stellar captures; How important is the feedback from supermassive black holes in structure formation?; What is the role of accreting black holes in the reionization of the Universe?; Sgr A* as a test-bed for our knowledge of the immediate AGN environment.; What does the X-ray Background tell us about AGN activity and obscuration, both at low and at high redshifts?; What sets QSOs lifetimes and their accretion efficiency? How is the SMBH activity connected to galaxy mergers and central star bursts?; What can we learn about AGN from studies of stellar mass binary black holes?; What is the connection between SMBH jets and accretion discs? Are jets matter or Poynting flux dominated?; SMBHs as sources of gravitational radiation.

Invited speakers: Marek Abramowicz, Fred Baganoff, Ralf Bender, Roger Blandford, Niel Brandt, Karsten Danzmann, Andy Fabian, Xiaohui Fan, Reinhard Genzel, Zoltan Haiman, Guenther Hasinger, Guineviere Kauffmann, Andrew King, Abraham Loeb, Piero Madau, David Merritt, Sterl Phinney, Martin Rees, Bernard Schutz, Volker Springel.

7. Participation in conferences in 2003

1. International School on "Black Holes in the Universe" Cargèse, Corsica (France) May 12-24, 2003
http://www-dapnia.cea.fr/Phys/Sap/Conferences/cargese2003/circular1.shtml

I had an 8 hour series of lectures "Accretion around black holes", and was a member of the School scientific committee (other members: Eric Gourgoulhon, Jean-Marie Hameury, Jacques Paul, Rachid Sunyaev).

2. Nordita Master Class in Physics, Den Nordiske Lejrskole, Hillerød (Denmark) 3-10 August, 2003
http://www.nordita.dk/conference/MasterClass2003/

I had a 5 hour series of lectures "Theory of accretion disks around black holes"

3. Tenth Marcel Grossmann Meeting on General Relativity
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), July 20-26, 2003
http://www.cbpf.br/mg10/WelcomeNew.html
I had two invited lectures at two parallel sessions: "QPOs Resonance Theory" (20min), "Numerical simulations of accretion disks" (20min), and was a repporteur at another session (30min).

4. The 25th Aniversary of the Copernicus Centre
Warsaw (Poland), September 20-25
I had an invited lecture "Active Galactic Nuclei" (1hr).

5. 5th RagTime Workshop, Silesian University
Opava (Czech Republic), 13-15 October, 2003
http://uf.fpf.slu.cz/rag/time5/
I had an invited lecture "The Ultra Luminous X-ray sources: intermediate mass black holes?" (1hr).

6. X-Ray Timing 2003: Rossi and Beyond
CfA, Harvard (U.S.A.), November 3-5, 2003
http://hea-www.harvard.edu/xrt2003/
I had an invited lecture "Interpreting black hole QPOs" (30min)