Physics Colloquium
Friday, October 8th, 2004, 4:00 P.M.

H. Richard Miller

Georgia State University

AGN Variability: The Key to Understanding the Quasar Phenomena

Variability has been studied across the electromagnetic spectrum for the past forty years for all classes of AGN. However, only recently have we begun to effectively utilize these observations to probe the structure at The centers of these objects and in the the relativistics jets that emanate from these objects. In addition, the variability provides one with the opportunity to study the various emission processes that occur in these regions, and ultimately, to measure the mass of the putative blackhole that is thought to lie at the centers of these enigmatic objects.