Related papers: Probing general relativistic effects during AGN X-…
The spectrum of the hard X-ray background records the history of accretion processes integrated over the cosmic time. Several pieces of observational and theoretical evidence indicate that a significant fraction of the energy density is…
X-ray observations provide a powerful tool to probe the central engines of active galactic nuclei (AGN). A hard X-ray continuum is produced from deep within the accretion flow onto the supermassive black hole, and all optically thick…
The detection of new clusters of galaxies or the study of known clusters of galaxies in X-rays can be complicated by the presence of X-ray point sources, the majority of which will be active galactic nuclei (AGN). This can be addressed by…
Current, accumulating evidence for (mildly) relativistic blue- and red-shifted absorption lines in AGNs is reviewed. XMM-Newton and Chandra sensitive X-ray observations are starting to probe not only the kinematics (velocity) but also the…
Both long and short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are expected to occur in the dense environments of active galactic nuclei (AGN) accretion disks. As these bursts propagate through the disks they live in, they photoionize the medium causing…
We investigate the Eddington ratio distribution of X-ray selected broad-line active galactic nuclei (AGN) in the redshift range 1.0<z<2.2, where the number density of AGNs peaks. Combining the optical and Subaru/FMOS near-infrared…
We analyze observations obtained with the Chandra X-ray Observatory of bright Compton thick active galactic nuclei (AGNs), those with column densities in excess of 1.5 x 10^{24} cm^{-2} along the lines of sight. We therefore view the…
Various types of active galactic nuclei (AGN) are briefly discussed, with an emphasis on the theory of recent X-ray and $\gamma$-ray observations of the subclass, Seyfert 1 galaxies. The large radiation power from AGN is thought to…
We present an analysis of multi-timescale variability in line-of-sight X-ray absorbing gas as a function of optical classification in a large sample of Seyfert AGN to derive the first X-ray statistical constraints for clumpy-torus models.…
Nearby galactic nuclei are observed to be very much dimmer than active galactic nuclei in distant galaxies. The Chandra X-ray Observatory has provided a definitive explanation for why this is so. With its excellent angular resolution,…
Here we discuss the effects of strong gravity that can be observed in electromagnetic spectra of active galactic nuclei (AGN). According to the unification model of an AGN, there is a supermassive black hole ($10^7 - 10^9 M_\odot$) in its…
The observable characteristics of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) embedded in the accretion disk of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are mainly determined by the jet propagation within the disk. In the massive collapsar scenario, we consider that the…
Many X-ray bright active galactic nuclei (AGN) are predicted to follow an extended stage of obscured black hole growth. In support of this picture we examine the X-ray undetected AGNs in the COSMOS field and compare their host galaxies with…
We present results of recurrence analysis of 46 active galactic nuclei (AGN) using light curves from the 157-month catalog of the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) in the 14-150 keV band. We generate recurrence plots and compute recurrence…
Powerful winds driven by active galactic nuclei (AGN) are often invoked to play a fundamental role in the evolution of both supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and their host galaxies, quenching star formation and explaining the tight…
We present a model that explains some extreme variability phenomena observed in active galactic nuclei (AGN). In this model, an orbiting companion interacts with the accretion disk surrounding the central supermassive black hole (SMBH).…
The effects of strong gravity on the polarization of the Compton reflection from an X-ray illuminated accretion disc are studied. The gravitational field of a rotating black hole influences Stokes parameters of the radiation along the…
By analogy to the different accretion states observed in black-hole X-ray binaries (BHXBs), it appears plausible that accretion disks in active galactic nuclei (AGN) undergo a state transition between a radiatively efficient and inefficient…
Number of monitoring observations of continuum emission from Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) have been made in optical--X-ray bands. The results obtained so far show (i) random up and down on timescales longer than decades, (ii) no typical…
Hard X-ray emission is ubiquitous in accreting black holes, both in Galactic binary systems and in Active Galactic Nuclei. I review the different spectra which can be seen from these systems, and possible ways of producing this emission.…