Dr. Richard Plotkin

Dr. Plotkin is an assistant professor of Physics at the University of Nevada, Ren.

"My research uses multiwavelength space- and ground-based observations to study a wide variety of phenomena related to accreting black holes, over the full range of black hole masses and accretion rates. My main research goal is to better understand the structure/geometry of accretion flows and outflows in different accretion regimes, in order to more effectively use radiation as a probe of Galactic and extragalactic black hole populations and to learn how black holes may impact their large-scale environments."

Dr. Plotkin's interests include:

• quiescent black hole X-ray binaries
• low-luminosity active galactic nuclei
• quasars
• relativistic jets
• X-ray populations in nearby galaxies

He uses the following telescopes:

• Chandra X-ray Telescope (NASA; X-ray)
• Hubble Space Telescope (NASA; optical/ultraviolet)
• Very Large Array (National Radio Astronomy Observatory; radio)
• Great Basin Observatory (0.7 m robotic optical telescope in Great Basin National Park)