Reminder: Today, PHYSICS COLLOQUIUM

Speaker: J. Binney, Oxford

Title: Heating Cooling Flows

Date / Time: Wednesday, January 15, 2003, 16:45 h (tea starts at 16:15 h)

Place / Room: HPH G4

Abstract:

The potential wells of massive galaxy clusters and elliptical galaxies are filled with X-ray emitting gas. In the majority of cases the cooling time at the centre is significantly less than the Hubble time. This phenomenon is clearly key for understanding galaxy formation. In the last two years data from XMM-Newton and Chandra have at last undermined confidence in the steady-state cooling-flow model that for two decades was the standard paradigm. The observational and theoretical case against the steady-state model will be presented and our current understanding of cooling flows as dynamical phenomena driven by AGN will be outlined.

With best regards, C. Aurelio