In this paper we first show that within the Hamiltonian description of general relativity, the central charge of a near horizon asymptotic symmetry group is zero, and therefore that the entropy of the system cannot be estimated using Cardy’s formula. This is done by mapping a static black hole to a two dimensional space. We explain how such a charge can only appear to a static observer who choo...

The largest galaxies, and in particular central galaxies in clusters, offer unique insight into understanding the mechanism for the growth of nuclear black holes. We present Hubble Space Telescope kinematics for NGC 1399, the central galaxy in Fornax. We find the best-fit model contains a black hole of (5.1±0.7)×108 M⊙ (at a distance of 21.1 Mpc), a factor of over 2 below the correlation of bla...

We describe techniques for incorporating feedback from star formation and black hole accretion into simulations of isolated and merging galaxies. At present, the details of these processes cannot be resolved in simulations on galactic scales. Our basic approach therefore involves forming coarse-grained representations of the properties of the interstellar medium and black hole accretion startin...

We study black hole attractor equations for one-(complex structure)modulus Calabi-Yau spaces which are the mirror dual of Fermat Calabi-Yau threefolds (CY3s). When exploring non-degenerate solutions near the Landau-Ginzburg point of the moduli space of such 4-dimensional compactifications, we always find two species of extremal black hole attractors, depending on the choice of the Sp (4,Z) symp...

We put forward an alternative view to the Bondi–driven feedback between heating and cooling of the intra-cluster medium (ICM) in cooling flow (CF) galaxies and clusters. We adopt the popular view that the heating is due to an active galactic nucleus (AGN), i.e. a central black hole accreting mass and launching jets and/or winds. We propose that the feedback occurs with the entire cool inner reg...

The properties of radio loud active galaxies (radiogalaxies, BL Lac objects and radio loud quasar) at low and high redshift are briefly reviewed and compared. The recently derived empirical relations between central black hole mass and host properties allow one to explore the demographics of massive black hole in active galaxies. It is shown that all classes of active galaxies considered exhibi...

Phase contrast transmission electron microscopy is a powerful tool to enhance the image contrast of transparent materials such as ice-embedded biological specimens and polymer materials. In this method, a phase plate, which is placed at the back-focal plane of the objective lens, gives a phase shift for scattered electron waves, resulting in a significant enhancement contrast of specimens in im...

A significant fraction of nearby galaxies show evidence of weak nuclear activity unrelated to normal stellar processes. Recent high-resolution, multiwavelength observations indicate that the bulk of this activity derives from black hole accretion with a wide range of accretion rates. The low accretion rates that typify most low-luminosity active galactic nuclei induce significant modifications ...