Radiatively inefficient accretion disks in low luminosity AGN

Marco Chiaberge

Emission from radiatively inefficient accretion flows (RIAFs) is often swamped by other radiation processes. We studied local samples of LLAGN, from the least luminous LINERs to low power radio galaxies. Using HST we can disentangle the faint nuclear sources associated with either the accretion process or ejection of matter from the vicinity of the black holes. Our results give us a powerful tool to find objects in which RIAFs can be detected.