Jun 12 – 17, 2023
Asia/Yerevan timezone

Invited speakers


Gennady Bisnovatyi-Kogan

Space Research Institute (IKI), Russia

Hubble Tension challenge in the modern cosmology: possible solutions

One of the problems in the modern cosmology is a so-called Hubble tension (HT), which is the difference between values of the present Hubble constant H0, measured by observation of the universe at redshift z ≤ 1, and the same value measured by observations of a distant universe by observations of CMB fluctuations corresponding to z ≌1100. We suggest that this Tension may be explained by deviation of the cosmological expansion from a standard 𝜦CDM model of a flat universe, due to the action of an additional variable component DEV during the post-recombination stage.
In order to maintain the almost constant DEV/DM energy density ratio during the whole time interval at z < 1100z<1100, it is necessary to allow the existence of a wide mass DM particle distribution.


 

 
Maria Giovanna Dainotti

National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Japan

TBD


 

 
Massimo Della Valle

Capodimonte Astronomical Observatory and INAF, Italy (TBC)

TBD


 


 

Evgeny Derishev

Institute of Applied Physics, Russia

Pair-balance model for relativistic shocks and its application to astrophysical sources

Among astrophysical objects whose emission originates from relativistic shocks are active galactic nuclei, gamma-ray bursts, and pulsar winds. Their exceptionally broad spectra are due to synchrotron and inverse Compton emission of accelerated leptons. Although these radiation processes are common in space, the relativistic shocks and shear flows possess an efficient feedback mechanism that sets them apart from other particle acceleration sites.

The feedback operates through inelastic collisions of high-energy inverse Compton photons with low-energy synchrotron photons, that create electron-positron pairs in a region where the flow's velocity is relativistic with respect to the photons' source. The pairs gain energy from the difference in flow's velocity. This constitutes the converter acceleration mechanism.

Whenever it is efficient, the converter acceleration reaches nonlinear saturation regime, where momentum transfer by high-energy photons keeps flow's velocity gradient at minimum necessary for converter acceleration to operate. The balance occurs when photons from the inverse Compton peak in the spectrum have barely enough energy to produce pairs with photons from the synchrotron peak. This balance condition predicts the positions of both synchrotron and inverse Compton peaks, and the ratio of their heights. The predictions are in line with recent observations of TeV emission from gamma-ray burst afterglows.


 


 

Zhan-Arys Dzhilkibaev

Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia

Neutrino Telescope Baikal-GVD: Status and Nearest Future

The progress in the construction and operation of the Baikal Gigaton Volume Detector in Lake Baikal is reported. The detector is designed for search for high energy neutrinos whose sources are not yet reliably identified. It currently includes over 3500 optical modules arranged on 98 strings, providing an effective volume of 0.6 km3 for cascades with energy above 1 PeV. We review the scientific case for Baikal-GVD, the construction plan, and first results from the partially built experiment, which is currently the largest neutrino telescope in the Northern Hemisphere and still growing up.


 

 
Marat Gilfanov

Max-Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Germany and IKI, Russia

SRG/eROSITA all-sky survey: from solar flares and neutrino sources to cosmology

After more than two years of scanning the sky the eROSITA X-ray telescope aboard SRG orbital observatory produced the best ever X-ray maps of the sky and discovered more than three million X-ray sources, of which about 20% are stars with active coronas in the Milky Way, and most of the rest are galaxies with active nuclei, quasars and clusters of galaxies. eROSITA detected over 103 sources that changed their luminosity by more than an order of magnitude, including about a hundred tidal disruption events. Two tidal disruption events are associated with IceCube neutrinos. SRG/eROSITA samples of quasars and galaxy clusters will make it possible to study the large-scale structure of the Universe at z~1 and measure its cosmological parameters. I will review some of the SRG/eROSITA results in the Eastern Galactic hemisphere.

Spektr-RG, a Russian–German high-energy astrophysics space observatory, to be reported by Rashid Sunyaev and Marat Gilfanov, Max-Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Germany and Space Research Institute (IKI) of Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia

 
Paolo Giommi

Italian Space Agency, Italy

TBD


 

 
Luca Izzo

Niels Bohr Institute, Denmark (TBC)

TBD


 

 
Sang Pyo Kim

Kunsan National University, South Korea

TBD


 

 
Michael Kramer

Max-Planck-Institut fuer Radioastronomie, Germany (TBC)

TBD


 

 
Jutta Kunz

University of Oldenburg, Germany (TBC)

TBD


 

 
Claus Laemmerzahl

University Bremen, Germany

New quantum technologies and gravity

As has been emphasized in the talk of Hansjoerg Dittus, the second quantum revolution enables new technologies which are not accessible through classical physics. These technologies are characterized by the engineering and manipulating of quantum states. In this talk the interface between these new technologies and the gravitational interaction is highlighted by considering a few topics: (i) a metrological triangle for gravity, (ii) two gravitational constants, (iii) Hong-Ou-Mandel interferometry in gravitational fields, and (iv) quantum imaging of the gravitational field.


 

 
Di Li

National Astronomical Observatories of China, China

Discoveries from FAST

The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) has been in operation since early 2020. Largely motivated by the great Arecibo observatory, FAST now perches on the apex of sensitivity among centimeter-band radio instruments and will stay there until the advent of SKA. In a little three years, FAST data has facilitated more than 150 journal papers, including at least 7 on Nature, 2 on Science, 1 on Science Bulletin, and a few more on high-impact astronomy journals, such as Nature Astronomy. I will present a brief overview of FAST's discoveries so far, with particular emphasis on those that better reflects the unique advantages of this observatory. For example, the precise Zeeman measurement based on our novel HI Narrow Self-Absorption (HINSA) technique, the high quality HI images (~1% flux uncertainty), the world's first persistently active fast radio bursts (FRBs), etc. With these discoveries, I will also ponder upon the potential progresses to be made in terms of the better understanding the fundamental physical principles of the cosmos.

 
FAST (Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope), the world's largest filled-aperture radio telescope, observing pulsars and fast radio bursts, to be reported by Di Li, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

 
Massimiliano Lincetto

Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany

TBD

ICECube, neutrino observatory located at the South Pole, measuring neutrinos in the energy range 100 GeV to several PeV, with the volume 1 km3, to be reported by Massimiliano Lincetto, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany

 
Vladimir Lipunov

SAI, Moscow, Russia

TBD

MASTER (Mobile Astronomical System of the TElescope-Robots), a global robotic network of optical telescopes, observing transients such as gamma-ray bursts, to be reported by Vladimir Lipunov, Moscow State University, Russia


 

Ruoyu Liu

Nanjing University, China

TBD

LHAASO (Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory), a gamma-ray (200 GeV to 1 PeV) and cosmic-ray (from 1 TeV to 1 EeV) observatory in Tibet, China, to be reported by Ruoyu Liu, Nanjing University, China

 
Andrea Merloni

Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics, Germany (TBC)

TBD


 

 
Felix Mirabel

CEA Saclay, France

Black hole induced star formation in the early universe

In the local universe have been observed enhancements of star formation due to relativistic jets from accreting black holes (BHs). These BH “positive feedbacks” take place by the interaction of BH-jets with high-density molecular clouds, which leads to compression of the gas and subsequent enhancement of star formation. This BH-jet triggering mechanism of star formation must have been more important in the early universe, for two reasons. First, the global gas density in the universe evolves with redshift z as (1+z)3, and at z = 30 the global gas density would be more than 104 times the global gas density in the local universe. Second, revently have been increasing indications that in the galaxies of the early universe massive BHs came first and grow faster than the stellar populations. In this context, I propose that the rapidly growing BH seeds of the SMBHs of 109 M in quasars at z = 7 may have induced the formation of the first massive stars of Pop III.


 

 
Razmik Mirzoyan

Max-Planck-Institute for Physics, Germany

Selected Studies of Cosmic and Gamma Rays with the MAGIC telescopes

MAGIC is a ground-based Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope (IACT) for very high energy gamma-ray measurements that has pioneered high-sensitivity measurements down to a few tens of GeV. It includes a system of double telescopes with a diameter of 17 m, separated by a distance of 85 m, operating in coincidence mode (stereo). The telescopes are located at an altitude of 2200 m above sea level in the European Northern Observatory El Roque de los Muchachos on the Canary Island of La Palma. In recent years, the MAGIC collaboration has developed innovative techniques that have increased the dynamic range and sensitivity of the telescopes to around 20 GeV and up to 100 TeV. These have expanded and greatly improved the capabilities of the instrument. In this report we want to focus on some selected observations of cosmic and gamma rays of galactic and extragalactic origin.

MAGIC (Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov Telescope), operating in the energy range from 30 GeV to 100 TeV, to be reported by Razmik Mirzoyan, Max-Planck-Institute for Physics, Germany

 
Volker Perlick

ZARM, University Bremen, Germany

 

Personal website

Influence of a plasma on the shadow of black holes

If a black hole is seen against a backdrop of bright light sources, it forms as dark disc on the observer's sky, known as the "shadow" of the black hole. If one assumes that light rays are not influenced by a medium, i.e., if one assumes that they are lightlike geodesics of the spacetime metric, the boundary curve of the shadow can be analytically determined, provided that the spacetime is stationary and axisymmetric and that the Hamilton-Jacobi equation for lightlike geodesics separates. In this talk it is discussed under which conditions such an analytical determination of the shadow is possible if the light rays are influenced by a non-magnetised pressure-less electron-ion plasma. Several examples are worked out, not only for black holes but also, for the sake of comparison, for some "black-hole impostors" such as wormholes. In particular, it is discussed if the boundary curve of the shadow can form "fishtails". 
The talk is partly based on joined papers with Oleg Tsupko, Gennady Bisnovatyi-Kogan, Barbora Bezděková and Jiří Bičák.


Shadow curve with fishtails, in a plasma on Kerr spacetime.

 
Tsvi Piran
The Hebrew University, Israel

TBD


 

Konstantin Postnov

Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Moscow State University, Russia

TBD


 

 
Paolo Soffitta

IAPS, INAF, Rome, Italy

The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) results from the first 1.5 years of observation

The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is a NASA-ASI Small Explorer mission selected on January 2017 and launched on 9th December 2021. Three X-ray mirrors are coupled to three Detector Units clocked at 120° each one hosting a Gas Pixel Detector, sensitive to X-ray polarization designed, built tested, and calibrated by INAF and INFN institutes. Some dozens of celestial X-ray sources, from almost all the classes, were observed so far, and for more than a half IXPE detected significant polarization. Some unexpected results were found by IXPE and in this talk after an introduction to the mission I will describe the main Astrophysical achievements reached so far.

 
IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer), space-based observatory for measuring the polarization of X-rays launched by NASA, to be reported by Paolo Soffitta, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Italy

 
Rashid Sunyaev

Max-Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Germany and Space Research Institute (IKI), Russia (TBC)

TBD

Spektr-RG, a Russian–German high-energy astrophysics space observatory, to be reported by Rashid Sunyaev and Marat Gilfanov, Max-Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Germany and Space Research Institute (IKI) of Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia

 
Alexei Starobinsky

Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, Russia

New developments in the inflationary scenario


 


 

 
Lev Titarchuk

University di Ferrara, Italy and Astro Space Center, Lebedev Physical Institute, Russia

The spectral signatures of BHs versus NSs

In 2017 the work on the Comptonization (Sunyaev-Titarchuk) seen in the X-ray spectra of astrophysical sources was a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Physics. In this talk I provide all the details of the exciting prehistory of this topic and precise details of this discovery. The solution of this problem and its subsequent development and application to the spectra of accreting neutron star (NS) and black hole (BH) binaries reveals a lot of information on these objects. In particular, now we can unambiguously distinguish between a NS and a BH (Galactic or extragalactic) using correlations of their spectral indices vs mass accretion rate (or QPO frequency). I further demonstrate how we can determine a BH mass using this correlation.


 

 
Shuang Nan Zhang

Institute of High Energy Physics, China

Pair-balance model for relativistic shocks and its application to astrophysical sources

Among astrophysical objects whose emission originates from relativistic shocks are active galactic nuclei, gamma-ray bursts, and pulsar winds. Their exceptionally broad spectra are due to synchrotron and inverse Compton emission of accelerated leptons. Although these radiation processes are common in space, the relativistic shocks and shear flows possess an efficient feedback mechanism that sets them apart from other particle acceleration sites.

The feedback operates through inelastic collisions of high-energy inverse Compton photons with low-energy synchrotron photons, that create electron-positron pairs in a region where the flow's velocity is relativistic with respect to the photons' source. The pairs gain energy from the difference in flow's velocity. This constitutes the converter acceleration mechanism.

Whenever it is efficient, the converter acceleration reaches nonlinear saturation regime, where momentum transfer by high-energy photons keeps flow's velocity gradient at minimum necessary for converter acceleration to operate. The balance occurs when photons from the inverse Compton peak in the spectrum have barely enough energy to produce pairs with photons from the synchrotron peak. This balance condition predicts the positions of both synchrotron and inverse Compton peaks, and the ratio of their heights. The predictions are in line with recent observations of TeV emission from gamma-ray burst afterglows.

Insight-HXMT (Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope), a Chinese X-ray space telescope observing black holes, neutron stars and active galactic nuclei, to be reported by Shuang-Nan Zhang, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China