Abstract and topics

The first epoch of AGN studies (1960-1990) yielded a solid picture of an accretion flow onto a supermassive black hole as the power source of the dominant observed radiative output, the core optical, UV and X-ray continuum. The properties of radio-loud AGN (notably the superluminal expansion of radio core components) clearly implied ejection of collimated relativistic particles, but this concerned only a "minority" class and received attention from a minority of the AGN community.

The 90s opened up the gamma-ray window, revealing the full power of relativistic jets and posing the problem of their origin which is still not understood. At the same time it became clear that in many cases the power transported by jets could be of the same order as the gravitational power released in the accretion flow.

In the last decade evidences of outflows have become increasingly apparent also in the spectra of non radio loud AGN. Moreover the feed-back effects from the AGN on the surrounding ambient on different scales have received increasing attention in the framework of the coevolution of galaxies and black holes.

Is there a connection between accretion and ejection in AGN ? Can a global scenario be envisaged to account for accretion dominated and jet dominated activity in AGN and their different ratios in different systems? Does this ratio "evolve" with cosmic time ? A multiwavelength approach is essential to address these questions.

The meeting aims at reviewing the status of our knowledge and understanding of the above issues bringing together scientists of somewhat different communities to exchange facts and ideas. We expect substantial new input on the high energy emission of AGN already from the first year of GLAST operation and from the start of second generation of Cherenkov Telescopes as well as from advances in multiwavelength studies.

The covered topics will include