Speaker
Yue Shen
Description
The restless central engine of accreting supermassive black holes (AGNs) produces ubiquitous variability across broad ranges of wavelengths and timescales. Variability allows the study of the innermost structures around the SMBH that cannot be spatially resolved directly. Recent studies on AGN variability have revealed interesting patterns in the light curves of AGNs, providing critical insights on the physics of accretion processes. I will review these recent progresses and applications of AGN variability to the general field of SMBHs.
