Related papers: XMM-Newton and Broad Iron Lines
We analyze the latest \emph{Suzaku} observation of the bright neutron star low-mass X-ray binary Serpens X-1 taken in 2013 October and 2014 April. The observation was taken using the burst mode and only suffered mild pile-up effects. A…
We present the results from the spectral analysis of more than 7,500 RXTE spectra of 10 AGN, which have been observed by RXTE regularly over a long period of time ~ 7-11 years. These observations most probably sample most of the flux and…
Accretion disk reflection spectra, including broad iron emission lines, bear the imprints of the strong Doppler shifts and gravitational red-shifts close to black holes. The extremity of these shifts depends on the proximity of the…
We present results from a deep Suzaku observation of the black hole in LMC X-1, supplemented by coincident monitoring with RXTE. We identify broad relativistic reflection features in a soft disc-dominated spectrum. A strong and variable…
Recently, a rotating black hole solution was found in Vector-Tensor Galileons modified gravity that has some significant differences from the Kerr black hole solution. We study the iron line shape that is part of the reflection spectrum of…
We study light curves and spectra (equivalent widths of the iron line and some other spectral characteristics) which arise by reprocessing on the surface of an accretion disc, following its illumination by a primary off-axis source - an…
The nature and geometry of the accretion flow in the low/hard state of black hole binaries is currently controversial. While most properties are generally explained in the truncated disc/hot inner flow model, the detection of a broad…
Powerful relativistic jets are among the most ubiquitous and energetic observational consequences of accretion around supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei and neutron stars and stellar-mass black holes in x-ray binary (XRB)…
The iron line and the continuum-fitting methods are currently the two leading techniques for measuring black hole spins with electromagnetic radiation. They can be naturally extended for probing the spacetime geometry around black holes and…
The UV-X continuum, the X-ray spectral features, and the variability in these bands provide powerful tools for studying the innermost regions of AGNs from which we gain an insight into the accretion process. In this chapter the discussion…
General Relativity effects (gravitational redshift, light bending, ...) strongly modify the characteristics of the lines emitted close to the Black Hole in Active Galactic Nuclei and Galactic Black Hole systems. These effects are reviewed…
We analyse a long archival XMM-Newton observation of the narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy Ton S180, using the latest reflection models to explore the high quality X-ray spectrum. We find that the iron line is relatively narrow and sharp, and…
We compute X-ray emission lines from thermal plasma in hot accretion flows. We show that line profiles are strong probes of the gas dynamics, and we present line-ratio diagnostics which are sensitive to the distribution of mass with…
One of the most useful spectral diagnostics of accreting black hole systems is the Fe K$\alpha$ fluorescence line. Detected in many systems, it is often used to estimate the black hole spin, as its breadth is attributed to relativistic…
In active galactic nuclei (AGN), fluorescent Fe K$\alpha$ (iron) line emission is generally interpreted as originating from obscuring material around a supermassive black hole (SMBH) on the scale of a few parsecs (pc). However, recent…
We consider the X-ray emission due to bremsstrahlung processes from hot, low radiative-efficiency accretion flows around supermassive and galactic black holes. We calculate surface brightness profiles and Michelson visibility functions for…
We present an extended scheme for the calculation of the profiles of emission lines from accretion discs around rotating black holes. The scheme includes discs with angular momenta which are parallel and antiparallel with respect to the…
(Abridged) Recent XMM-Newton studies of X-ray variability in the hard states of black hole X-ray binaries (BHXRBs) imply that the variability is generated in the 'standard' optically-thick accretion disc. The variability originates in the…
Accretion onto black holes often proceeds via an accretion disk or a temporary disk-like pattern. Variability features observed in light curves as well as theoretical models of accretion flows suggest that accretion disks tend to be…
Black hole binary transients undergo dramatic evolution in their X-ray timing and spectral behaviour during outbursts. In recent years a paradigm has arisen in which "soft" X-ray states are associated with an inner disc radius at, or very…