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Attend a special seminar featuring two cutting-edge astrophysics presentations exploring fundamental questions about gravity and neutron star physics. Learn about testing general relativity through black hole imaging as Akhil Uniyal from Shanghai Jiao Tong University presents research on using general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations and Event Horizon Telescope observations to distinguish between different theories of gravity. Discover how horizon-scale images of supermassive black holes provide new opportunities to test Einstein's theory, with future missions potentially capable of detecting deviations from the Kerr metric when image mismatches exceed 2-5%. Explore the formation of relativistic jets from rapidly rotating neutron stars as Dhruv Desai from the University of Greifswald discusses three-dimensional simulations of millisecond proto-magnetars. Understand how these strongly magnetized neutron stars, formed in stellar core-collapse and neutron star mergers, can launch ultra-relativistic jets despite neutrino-heated baryon winds that initially limit magnetization. Examine how centrifugal forces in rapidly spinning neutron stars create structured bipolar jets with peak magnetization sufficient to reach bulk Lorentz factors of 100, potentially explaining the energy partition observed in gamma-ray bursts and their electromagnetic counterparts. Gain insights into advanced computational astrophysics techniques including general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations, neutrino transport modeling, and radiative transfer calculations used to study extreme gravitational environments and high-energy astrophysical phenomena.
