Related papers: X-ray reflected spectra from accretion disk models…
Multiple reflection of X-rays may be important when an accretion disc and its hot corona have a complicated geometry, or if returning radiation due to gravitational light bending is important, or in emission from a funnel such as proposed…
We perform a first study of time-dependent X-ray reflection in photo-ionized accretion disks. We assume a step-functional change in the X-ray flux and use a simplified prescription to describe the time evolution of the illuminated gas…
The X-ray spectra of luminous Seyfert 1 galaxies often appear to be reflection dominated. In a number of Narrow Line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxies and galactic black holes in the very high state, the variability of the continuum and of the iron…
We report on one of the brightest flux levels of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 2992 ever observed in X-rays, on May 2019. The source has been monitored every few days from March 26, 2019 to December 14, 2019 by Swift-XRT, and simultaneous…
One of the most promising methods to measure the spin of an accreting black hole is fitting the broad iron K$\alpha$ line in the X-ray spectrum. The line profile also depends on the geometry of the hard X-ray emitting corona. To put…
We present a spectral variability study of the XMM-Newton and Suzaku observations of one of the most extreme Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxies, IRAS13224-3809. The X-ray spectrum is characterized by two main peculiar features, i) a strong soft…
Strong iron fluorescence at 6.4 keV and hard-X-ray emissions from giant molecular clouds in the Galactic center region have been interpreted as reflections of a past outburst of the Sgr A* supermassive black hole. Careful treatment of…
The extreme NLS1 galaxy IRAS 13224-3809 shows significant variability, frequency depended time lags, and strong Fe K line and Fe L features in the long 2011 XMM-Newton observation. In this work we study the spectral properties of IRAS…
Recent X-ray observations of microquasars and Seyfert galaxies reveal broad emission lines in their spectra, which can arise in the innermost parts of accretion disks. Simulations indicate that at low inclination angle the line is measured…
We report an Fe $K$-edge resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) study of K$_{0.83}$Fe$_{1.53}$Se$_2$. This material is an insulator, unlike many parent compounds of iron-based superconductors. We found a sharp excitation around 1 eV,…
We present spectroscopic X-ray data of two candidate ultra-compact X-ray binaries: 4U~0614+091 and 4U~1543$-$624. We confirm the presence of a broad O VIII Ly$\alpha$ reflection line (at $\approx18\ \AA$) using {\it XMM-Newton} and {\it…
The profile of the fluorescent iron line from black hole accretion disks is a powerful diagnostic of black hole properties, such as spin and inclination. The state-of-the-art, however, considers an accretion disk whose angular momentum is…
The models that seek to explain the reflection spectrum in black hole binaries usually invoke a point-like primary source of hard X-rays. This source illuminates the accretion disk and gives rise to the discrete (lines) and…
We calculate the atmospheric structure of an accretion disk around a Kerr black hole and obtain its X-ray spectrum, which exhibits prominent atomic transitions under certain circumstances. The gravitational and Doppler (red)shifts of the C…
In this thesis a computational tool for modelling spectral features of X-ray sources in a strong gravitational field is developed. Six transfer functions, the gravitational and Doppler shift, lensing, emission angle, relative time delay,…
Time-resolved IR spectroscopy of WZ Sge was obtained using NIRSPEC on Keck II. We detect CO and H$_{\rm 2}$ emission from the accretion disk placing WZ Sge into a rarefied class of astronomical objects including YSOs and high luminosity…
Irradiation of the accretion disc causes reflection signatures in the observed X-ray spectrum, encoding important information about the disc structure and density. A Type I X-ray burst will strongly irradiate the accretion disc and alter…
We present a simple analytical formula for the Thomson depth of the X-ray heated skin of accretion disks valid at any radius and for a broad range of spectral indices of the incident X-rays, accretion rates and black hole masses. We expect…
GX 339-4 was regularly monitored with RXTE during a period (in 1999) when its X-ray flux decreased significantly (from 4.2$\times 10^{-10}$ erg cm$^{-2} s^{-1}$ to 7.6$\times 10^{-12}$ erg cm$^{-2}$s$^{-1}$ in the 3--20 keV band), as the…
We have calculated the relativistic reflection component of the X-ray spectra of accretion disks in active galactic nuclei (AGN). Our calculations have shown that the spectra can be significantly modified by the motion of the accretion flow…