Nuclear Transients in the Multi-messenger Era
by
Tsung-Dao Lee Institute/S4F-SW - Open Area
Tsung-Dao Lee Institute
Host: Dong Lai
Location: TDLI, Open Area (4F-SW)
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Meeting ID: 211879865 (no password）
Abstract:
Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) provide dense, gas-rich environments in which stars and compact objects may undergo migration, capture, accretion, and mergers under conditions different from those in gas-poor stellar systems. These processes can affect the evolution of black holes, neutron stars, and stars in galactic nuclei, and may contribute to a variety of nuclear transients and multimessenger sources. In this talk, I will discuss how AGN disks influence compact-object pairing, orbital evolution, and gas interactions. I will show how this framework can be applied to stellar-mass black hole mergers, tidal disruption events, quasi-periodic eruptions, and related nuclear transients, and how it may inform the search for electromagnetic counterparts to some gravitational-wave sources. By connecting theoretical modeling with observations in electromagnetic and gravitational-wave bands, I will highlight the role of galactic nuclei as environments for studying compact-object dynamics, accretion, and transient phenomena.
Biography:
Dr. Yihan Wang is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He earned his Ph.D. in Physics from Stony Brook University in 2022 and his bachelor’s degree in Physics from the University of Science and Technology of China in 2015. His research focuses on theoretical and computational astrophysics, with interests in active galactic nuclei, tidal disruption events, gamma-ray bursts, compact-object dynamics, and multimessenger transients. His work develops a unified framework linking AGN disks and dense stellar systems to phenomena such as black hole mergers, changing-look AGN, and other nuclear transients. He also develops open-source tools, including SpaceHub for few-body dynamics and VegasAfterglow for gamma-ray burst afterglow modeling.
