Related papers: "Comets" orbiting a black hole
The relatively nearby (distance=24.1 Mpc) elliptical galaxy NGC821, hosting a central massive black hole but inactive at all wavelengths, was observed with Chandra for a total exposure of 230 ksec, to search for nuclear emission and gas…
We present new X-ray and UV observations of the Wolf-Rayet + black hole binary system NGC 300 X-1 with the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope Cosmic Origins Spectrograph. When combined with archival X-ray observations,…
The Southern Coalsack is located in the interior of the Upper Centaurus-Lupus (UCL) super bubble and shows many traits that point to a much more energetic environment than might be expected from a dark, starless molecular cloud. A hot,…
Black holes are a common feature of the Universe. They are observed as stellar mass black holes spread throughout galaxies and as supermassive objects in their centres. Observations of stars orbiting close to the centre of our Galaxy…
Aims. Outflows from active galactic nuclei are invoked as the principal feedback process regulating the co-evolution of supermassive black holes and their host galaxies. Because of their multi-phase and multi-scale nature, an exhaustive…
We have endeavoured to understand the formation and evolution of the black hole (BH) X-ray binary LMC X-3. We estimate the properties of the system at 4 evolutionary stages: 1) at the Zero Age Main Sequence (ZAMS), 2) just prior to the…
Supermassive binary black holes (BBHs) are unavoidable products of galaxy mergers and are expected to exist in the cores of many quasars. Great effort has been made during the past several decades to search for BBHs among quasars; however,…
We consider a scenario for the longest duration gamma ray bursts, resulting from the collapse of a massive star in a close binary system with a companion black hole. The primary black hole born during the core collapse is spun up and…
We investigate orbital motion of spherical, pressure-confined clouds in the broad-line region (BLR) of active galactic nuclei (AGN). The combined influence of gravity of the central object and the non-isotropic radiation of the central…
Estimating black hole masses of blazars is still a big challenge. Because of the contamination of jets, using the previously suggested size -- continuum luminosity relation can overestimate the broad line region (BLR) size and black hole…
In a previous work we obtained exact solutions for the proper time quantum mechanics of a thin dust shell, collapsing in a vacuum. We extend these results to the quantum collapse of a dust shell surrounding a pre-existing black hole. In…
We review the likely population, observational properties, and broad implications of stellar-mass black holes and ultraluminous x-ray sources. We focus on the clear empirical rules connecting accretion and outflow that have been established…
Recent x-ray observations of Mrk 766 suggest that broad emission line region clouds cross our line of sight and produce variable x-ray absorption. Here we investigate what optical/ultraviolet spectroscopic features would be produced by such…
Recent observations by the James Webb Space Telescope have uncovered a population of compact, red object ($z\sim 4\text{--}7$) known as little red dots (LRDs). The presence of broad Balmer emission lines indicates active galactic nuclei…
We have studied the X-ray nuclear activity of 187 nearby (distance < 15 Mpc) galaxies observed with Chandra/ACIS. We found that 86 of them have a point-like X-ray core, consistent with an accreting black hole (BH). We argue that the…
In the last few years multiwavelength observations have boosted our understanding of Ultraluminous X-ray Sources (ULXs). Yet, the most fundamental questions on ULXs still remain to be definitively answered: do they contain stellar or…
Thermal models for the quasar Big Blue Bump generally lead to bound-free continuum features, which may be in absorption or emission. Searches for Lyman edges attributable to quasar atmospheres (in particular accretion disk atmospheres) have…
We report ALMA observations of CO(3-2) emission in a sample of 7 Seyfert/LINER galaxies at the unprecedented spatial resolution of 0.1'' = 4-9 pc. Our aim is to explore the close environment of AGN, and the dynamical structures leading to…
By using the GRAVITY instrument with the near-infrared (NIR) Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI), the structure of the broad (emission-)line region (BLR) in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) can be spatially resolved, allowing the…
Rotating black holes can generate boson clouds via superradiance when the boson's Compton wavelength is comparable to the black hole's size. In binary systems, these clouds can produce distinctive observational imprints. Recent studies…