When a supermassive black hole (SMBH) at the center of a massive galaxy forms, often times a powerful relativistic jet (mixture of magnetic fields and relativistic plasmas) is produced, carrying away a significant fraction of the black hole total energy. This energy contributes the overall non-thermal energy in the whole cosmic structure, affecting galaxy formation and beyond. Understanding how such jets form, propagate and dissipate, thus, becomes essential in quantifying the role of SMBHs in the era of precision cosmology. We will describe how observations of jets on different scales, theory and simulations of relativistic flows and laboratory experiments of jet propagation and stability are teaching us the essential physical processes that are at play. Future prospects of progress will be discussed as well.

 

Dr. Hui Li graduated in Physics from PKU in 1990 and obtained his PhD in Theoretical Astrophysics from Rice University in 1995 . He was an Oppenheimer Fellow at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and is now a Scientist at LANL. His research covers a broad range of topics and he is actively involved in Plasma Astrophysics activities in the Asia-Pacific countries.