Related papers: An accretion disc model for quasar optical variabi…
We reexamine the hypothesis that the optical/UV/soft X-ray continuum of Active Galactic Nuclei is thermal emission from an accretion disk. Previous studies have shown that fitting the spectra with the standard, optically thick and…
The accretion flow in the disk dominated state of black hole binaries has peak temperature and luminosity which vary together in such a way as to indicate an approximately constant emitting area. The association of this with the last stable…
We investigate the time-dependent variations of ultraviolet (UV) black hole mass estimates of quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). From SDSS spectra of 615 high-redshift (1.69 < z < 4.75) quasars with spectra from two epochs, we…
In this work we use a sample of 318 radio-quiet quasars (RQQ) to investigate the dependence of the ratio of optical/UV flux to X-ray flux, alpha_ox, and the X-ray photon index, Gamma_X, on black hole mass, UV luminosity relative to…
In this chapter, I present a summary of observational tests of the basic picture of disk accretion. An emphasis is placed on tests relevant to black holes, but many of the fundamental results are drawn from studies of other classes of…
Accretion disc model fitting to optical/UV quasar spectra requires that the highest mass black holes have the highest spin, with implications on the hierarchical growth of supermassive black holes and their host galaxies over cosmic time.…
The ensemble variability properties of nearly 23,000 quasars are studied using the Palomar-QUEST Survey. The survey has covered 15,000 square degrees multiple times over 3.5 years using 7 optical filters, and has been calibrated…
We present accretion-disk structure measurements from UV-optical reverberation mapping observations of a sample of eight quasars at 0.24<z<0.85. Ultraviolet photometry comes from two cycles of Hubble Space Telescope monitoring, accompanied…
The problem of steady-state accretion to nonrotating black holes is examined. Advection is included and generalized formulas for the radiation pressure in both the optically thick and thin cases are used. Special attention is devoted to…
We construct an analytical black hole accretion disk model that incorporates both magnetic pressure and disk wind, which are found to be important from numerical simulations. A saturated magnetic pressure that relates the Alfven velocity…
We consider the effects of advection and radial gradients of pressure and radial drift velocity on the structure of accretion disks around black holes with proper description of optically thick/thin transitions. We concentrated our efforts…
Quasars, powered by accretion onto supermassive black holes (SMBHs), exhibit significant variability, offering insights into the physics of accretion and the properties of the central engines. In this study, we analyze photometric…
The evolution of luminous QSOs is linked to the evolution of massive galaxies. We know this because the relic black-holes found locally have masses dependent on the properties of the host galaxy's bulge. An important way to explore this…
Accreting black holes are observed to launch relativistic, collimated jets of matter and radiation. In some sources, discrete ejections have been detected with highly relativistic velocities. These particular sources typically have very…
The high state of black hole candidates is characterized by a quasi- thermal emission component at $kT \sim 1$ keV. In addition, this state tends to have very low variability which indicates that it is relatively stable, at least on {\it…
We present a flexible framework for constructing physical models of quasar evolution that can incorporate a variety of observational constraints, such as multi-wavelength luminosity functions, estimated masses and accretion rates of active…
Black hole binary systems can emit very bright and rapidly varying X-ray signals when material from the companion accretes onto the black hole, liberating huge amounts of gravitational potential energy. Central to this process of accretion…
We analyze a sample of optical light curves for 100 quasars, 70 of which have black hole mass estimates. Our sample is the largest and broadest used yet for modeling quasar variability. The sources in our sample have z < 2.8 and 10^6 < M_BH…
Aims: Establish the dependence of variability properties, such as characteristic timescales and variability amplitude, on basic quasar parameters such as black hole mass and accretion rate, controlling for the rest-frame wavelength of…
Black hole accretion and jet production are areas of intensive study in astrophysics. Recent work has found a relation between radio luminosity, X-ray luminosity, and black hole mass. With the assumption that radio and X-ray luminosity are…