Related papers: A SIMBOL-X View of Microquasars
The spin of a black hole retains the memory of how the black hole grew, and can be a potent source of energy for powering relativistic jets. To understand the diagnostic power and astrophysical significance of black hole spin, however, we…
We discuss the observational consequences of black hole spin in X-ray binaries within the framework of the standard thin accretion disk model. When compared to theoretical flux distribution from the surface of a thin disk surrounding a Kerr…
Future X-ray instrumentation is expected to allow us to significantly improve the constraints derivedfrom the Fe K lines in AGN, such as the black-hole angular momentum (spin) and the inclination angle of the putative accretion disk. We…
In the centre of our galaxy lies a super-massive black hole, identified with the radio source Sagittarius A*. This black hole has an estimated mass of around 4 million solar masses. Although Sagittarius A* is quite dim in terms of total…
Fast variability studies of accreting black holes in the Galaxy offer us a unique opportunity to measure the spins of black holes and test the strong-field behavior of general relativity. In this review, I summarize the arguments often used…
We give detailed predictions for the spectral signatures arising from photon-particle oscillations in astrophysical objects. The calculations include quantum electrodynamic effects as well as those due to active relativistic plasma. We show…
X-ray irradiation of the accretion disc leads to strong reflection features, which are then broadened and distorted by relativistic effects. We present a detailed, general relativistic approach to model this irradiation for different…
We show that Compton scattering of soft photons with energies near 100 eV in thermally stratified black-hole accretion plasmas with temperatures in the range 100 keV - 1 MeV can give rise to an X-ray spectral hardening near 10 keV. This…
In astronomy, the problem of black holes is arguably second in importance only to the problem of cosmology. A current frontier in black hole research is the measurement of spin. During the past three years, the spins of several stellar-mass…
The reflection spectrum produced by a cold medium illuminated by X-ray photons is not isotropic and its shape depends on the emission angle. In the reflection spectrum of an accretion disk of a black hole, the value of the emission angle…
We compare X-ray emission from several general relativistic, multi-frequency, radiation magnetohydrodynamic simulations of thin black hole accretion disks with different accretion rates and spins. The simulations were performed using the M1…
Microquasars are compact objects (stellar-mass black holes and neutron stars) that mimic, on a smaller scale, many of the phenomena seen in quasars. Their discovery provided new insights into the physics of relativistic jets observed…
Relativistic reflection features in the X-ray spectra of accreting black holes are considered to be generated by the illumination of the accretion disk by the hot corona. In this work, we present a numerical method for the emission line…
Context. The nature of X-shaped sources is a matter of considerable debate in the literature: it has even been proposed that they provide evidence for black-hole-mergers/spin-reorientation, and therefore constrain the rate of strong…
Microquasars are compact objects (stellar-mass black holes and neutron stars) that mimic, on a smaller scale, many of the phenomena seen in quasars. Their discovery provided new insights into the physics of relativistic jets observed…
The analysis of the Chandra X-ray observations of the gravitationally lensed quasar RX J1131-1231 revealed the detection of multiple and energy-variable spectral peaks. The spectral variability is thought to result from the microlensing of…
Infrared interferometry is currently in a rapid development phase, with new instrumentation soon achieving milliarcsecond spatial resolutions for faint sources and astrometry on the order of 10 microarcseconds. For jet studies in…
Microquasars are Black Hole X-ray binaries (BHXB) which can eject material in the form of a bipolar jet, similarly to quasars, but at much smaller scales. Their high-energy emission comes from an accretion disk (~ 1 keV) and from a hot…
X-ray reflection off the accretion disc surrounding a black hole, together with the associated broad iron K$\alpha$ line, has been widely used to constrain the innermost accretion-flow geometry and black hole spin. Some recent measurements…
X-ray reflection generates much of the spectral complexity in the X-ray spectra of AGN. It is argued that strong relativistic blurring of the reflection spectrum should commonly be expected from objects accreting at a high Eddington rate.…