Institut de recherche sur les lois fondamentales de l'Univers

Jeudi 11 octobre 2007 11h00 Astrophysical jets launched from an accretion disc seem to occur in nearly all types of accreting objects: from young stellar objects to active galaxies. I will present a unified model for the coupled accretion disc/jet system applicable to accreting systems of all mass, power and size. The validity of the unified model will be tested with empirical connections between X-ray binaries (XRBs) and active galactic nuclei (AGN). Besides these relativistic jet sources I will extend the model to cataclysmic variables, i.e. accreting white dwarfs. New evidence will be presented that these sources do show jets - unlike previous claims - and the jets behave similar to those seen in XRBs. I will conclude by applying the developed model to the problem of AGN feedback on their surrounding galaxies and clusters.