Research Scientist
About
Radio emission from AGNs
Margo Aller is studying relativistic jet outflows from gas accretion onto massive black holes in active galactic nuclei. This research uses a combination of source-integrated centimeter-band observations from the U-M 26-meter radio telescope, VLBA imaging from MOJAVE (a longterm VLBA program dedicated to characterizing structural changes in polarization and total intensity), complementary broadband data, and theoretical modeling to investigate how these outflows accelerate, collimate, and evolve within a hundred parsecs from the central engine.
Dr. Aller is particularly interested in the geometry of magnetic fields within these jets, their particle composition, and jet-central engine connections. Dr. Aller’s work helped identify shocks as the probable origin of radio band variability, and she was part of a team that obtained the first observational evidence for the presence of an acceleration and collimation zone within the jet, confirming the predictions of jet-launching models.
Recent Results
Recently Dr. Aller began a collaboration with the 40-m Owens Valley monitoring team (OVRO) to study the phenomenology apparent in multi-decade, centimeter-band light curves using combined UMRAO-OVRO monitoring data. An important result from this work is the discovery of a persistent sinusoidal variation in the 45.1-year light curve of the blazar PKS 2131-021 consistent with a supermassive binary black hole system with an orbital separation of ~0.001-0.01 pc and a period of 2.08 years in the rest frame of the source. See recent press release on this result!
Background
BA, Vassar College; PhD, University of Michigan.
Additional Interests
She is Co-Editor-in-Chief of the MDPI on-line journal Galaxies, and currently lead editor on a special issue entitled Polarimetry as a Probe of Magnetic Fields in AGN Jets.
Publications
For publications by this author, use this ADS search.
ORCID ID: 0000-0003-2483-2103
