Higgs Hour - Understanding black hole spin

Astrophysical black holes are described by two properties: their mass and their spin. While the mass evolution of black holes in the context of their host galaxies has been the subject of many studies, comparatively little is understood about the spin of massive black holes. Much like the mass, the spin of black holes evolves over time, but unlike mass spin is a vector that can increase, decrease and reorient. Black hole spin has important consequences for the inner structure of the accretion disc, which in tun affects the radiative efficiency of black hole feedback, i.e. how much of the accreted mass is converted to energy and released by the black hole. In this talk I will lay our what we know about the close link between black hole spin and accretion disc structure, and present some thoughts on how we might be able to further constrain this elusive quantity.

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