Eduardo M. Gutiérrez

About Me

I am a theoretical astrophysicist from La Plata, Argentina, with an interest in the most energetic phenomena in the Universe, particularly those occurring in the vicinity of black holes and neutron stars. My journey in astronomy began as a child when I would spend long hours at night looking at the stars with my father and our binoculars.

I was fortunate to live close to the National University of La Plata, one of only three institutions that teach Astronomy in Argentina. I started my undergraduate studies in 2011 and graduated in 2017 with a Master's thesis about the potential effects of primordial black holes in early cosmic evolution.

In 2022, I obtained my PhD degree under the supervision of Prof. Gustavo E. Romero with a thesis on radiation from accreting black holes. I am currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos at Pennsylvania State University, where I work in Prof. David Radice's group on simulating neutron star mergers and investigating the high-energy emission produced after these events.

My Research

I am passionate about black holes and compact objects in general. My research interests involve several aspects of these intriguing objects and their relationships with their closest environment. My work tries to understand some of the phenomena that occur in the vicinity of accreting black holes.

View my ADS publication library →

Supermassive Binary Black Holes

How can we identify the presence of two supermassive black holes orbiting each other through electromagnetic emission? What are the specific electromagnetic signatures one could expect to observe from these systems?

Binary Neutron Star Mergers

What happens when two neutron stars merge? How do magnetic fields evolve? What are the main multimessenger signals from these events?

Hot Accretion Flows

What role do nonthermal particles play in hot accretion flows? How do they influence the immediate vicinity of accreting black holes?

Relativistic Jets

Which properties of relativistic jets can we infer via detailed broadband SED modelling?

Curriculum Vitae

Download CV (PDF)

Talks

Electromagnetic signatures from supermassive binary black holes approaching merger

LISA Astrophysics Working Group meeting (June 2021, Virtual)

Abstract: Theoretical models predict that when two galaxies merge, the supermassive black holes at their nuclei might end up forming close binary systems of sub-parsec scales. The gravitational waves emitted by these systems are targets of current Pulsar Timing Arrays and of future interferometers as LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna). Unlike most stellar-mass black hole mergers, supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) live and die in gas-rich environments (the cores of galaxies) and they can present similar phenomenology to single AGNs; namely, accretion disks, jets and the subsequent multi-wavelength emission. A detailed knowledge of the main radiation signatures from these systems is crucial to differentiate them from normal AGNs and to identify potential targets for multi-messenger observations. In this talk, I present new theoretical predictions of the electromagnetic emission from close SMBBHs. Using data from GRMHD simulations of these systems, we produce realistic ray traced images, spectra, and lightcurves at different wavelengths. We explore the influence of the black hole spin, accretion rate, and line-of-sight inclination on these products and identify specific features that may discriminate SMBHBs from normal AGNs.

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