Related papers: X-ray emission from black-hole binaries
Relativistic reflection features are commonly observed in the X-ray spectra of accreting black holes. In the presence of high quality data and with the correct astrophysical model, X-ray reflection spectroscopy can be quite a powerful tool…
These notes resulted from a series of lectures at the IAC winter school. They are designed to help students, especially those just starting in subject, to get hold of the fundamental tools used to study accretion powered sources. As such,…
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…
Most of the X-ray emission from luminous accreting black holes emerges from within 20 gravitational radii. The effective emission radius is several times smaller if the black hole is rapidly spinning. General Relativistic effects can then…
Blurred reflection features are commonly observed in the X-ray spectra of accreting black holes. In the presence of high-quality data and with the correct astrophysical model, X-ray reflection spectroscopy is a powerful tool to probe the…
Recent advances in the X-ray and soft gamma-ray observations of accreting black holes and microquasars, in particular, are reviewed. The radiative processes responsible for the emission are discussed briefly. The hybrid thermal/nonthermal…
Galactic accretion driven stellar X-ray sources can be divided into groups in different ways. An important division, which covers almost all known X-ray binaries, can be made according to the mass of the donor star: high-mass X-ray binaries…
We show that the combination of the similarities between the X-ray properties of low luminosity accreting black holes and accreting neutron stars, combined with the differences in their radio properties argues that the X-rays from these…
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…
This paper summarises our current understanding of the spectral continuum components observed in black hole X-ray binaries. The consequences for theoretical models are discussed with an emphasis on the constraints set by observations on the…
Special and general relativistic effects on the X-ray emissions, especially the continuum spectra, from the accretion disks around black holes are investigated using the ray-tracing method. Because both the special and general relativistic…
The inner parts of black-hole accretion discs shine in X-rays which can be monitored and the observed spectra can be used to trace strong gravitational fields in the place of emission and along paths of light rays. This paper summarizes…
To understand the origin of hard X-ray emissions from black hole X-ray binaries during their low/hard states, we calculate the X-ray spectra of black-hole accretion flow for the following three configurations of hot and cool media: (a) an…
Accretion disks around stellar-mass black holes (BHs) emit radiation peaking in the soft X-rays when the source is in the thermal state. The emerging photons are polarized and, for symmetry reasons, the polarization integrated over the…
We report results from a systematic study of X-ray emission from black hole transients in quiescence. In this state mass accretion is thought to follow the geometry of an outer optically thick, geometrically thin disc and an inner optically…
X-ray flux from the inner hot region around central compact object in a binary system illuminates the upper surface of an accretion disc and it behaves like a corona. This region can be photoionised by the illuminating radiation, thus can…
From hot, tenuous gas dominated by Compton processes, to warm, photoionized emission-line regions, to cold, optically thick fluorescing matter, accreting gas flows in X-ray binaries span a huge portion of the parameter space accessible to…
We present preliminary results of our study of the impact of strong gravity effects on properties of the high energy radiation produced in accretion flows around supermassive black holes. We refine a model of the X-ray emission from a hot…
The phenomenology of accretion disc, coronnae and jets in X-ray binaries is rather well established. However the structure of the accretion flow in the various spectral states is still debated and the connection between the hot flow and…
We review the recent multifrequency studies of galactic black hole binaries, aiming at revealing the underlying emission processes and physical properties in these systems. The optical and infrared observations are important for determining…