Related papers: Evidence of two unique variability classes from IG…

Long-term observations have shown that black hole X-ray binaries exhibit strong, aperiodic variability on time-scales of a few milliseconds to seconds. The observed light curves display various characteristic features like a log-normal…

Accreting black holes are unique tools to understand the physics under extreme gravity. While black hole X-ray binaries differ vastly in mass from AGN, their accretion and ejection flows are assumed to be essentially similar. Black hole…

We present an energy dependent X-ray variability study of the 2010 outburst of the black hole X-ray binary MAXI J1659-152 with the Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT). The broad-band noise components and the quasi periodic oscillations (QPO)…

We present an optical spectroscopic study of the black hole X-ray transient V4641 Sgr (=SAX J1819.3-2525) covering the 1999, 2002 and 2004 outbursts. The spectra were taken over 22 different epochs during the low luminosity phases that…

We report on the analysis of 100 ks INTEGRAL observations of the Galactic microquasar GRS 1915+105. We focus on INTEGRAL Revolution number 48 when the source was found to exhibit a new type of variability as preliminarily reported in…

The RXTE observations of GRS 1915+105 have given a new impulse to the study of spectral and timing properties of the X-ray emission of black hole candidates. At variance with any other known source, GRS 1915+105 shows dramatic changes on…

We explore the timing and spectral properties of GRS 1915+105 based on X-ray observations of NICER and Insight-HXMT during the long outburst from 2017 to 2021. We find a new class of variability in the rising stage of the outburst that…

We present a spectral and timing study of the NuSTAR and Swift observations of the black hole candidate IGR J17091-3624 in the hard state during its outburst in 2016. Disk reflection is detected in each of the NuSTAR spectra taken in three…

We demonstrate a new method of variability classification using observations of black hole X-ray binaries. Using `power colours' -- ratios of integrated power in different Fourier frequency bands -- we can clearly differentiate different…

The black hole X-ray binary V4641 Sgr experienced an outburst in 2002 May which was detected at X-ray, optical, and radio wavelengths. The outburst lasted for only 6 days, but the object remained active for the next several months. Here we…

The diverse behaviors displayed by X-ray binaries make it difficult to determine the nature of the underlying compact objects. In particular, identification of systems containing black holes is currently considered robust only if a…

We present the analysis of the X-ray variability and spectral timing properties of the ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) NGC 5408 X-1, one of the most variable ULXs known so far. The variability properties are used as a diagnostic of the…

We present new insights about accretion and ejection physics based on joint RXTE/Chandra HETGS studies of rapid X-ray variability in GRS 1915+105. For the first time, with fast phase-resolved spectroscopy of the rho state, we are able to…

Here we study the rapid X-ray variability (using XMM-Newton observations) of three neutron-star low-mass X-ray binaries (1RXS J180408.9-342058, EXO 1745-248, and IGR J18245-2452) during their recently proposed very hard spectral state…

We explore the nonlinear properties of IGR J17091-3624 in the line of the underlying behaviour for GRS 1915+105, following correlation integral method. We find that while the latter is known to reveal the combination of fractal (or even…

Flux variability is a remarkable property of black hole (BH) accreting systems, and a powerful tool to investigate the multi-scale structure of the accretion flow. The X-ray band is where some of the most rapid variations occur, pointing to…

We re-analysed the archival data of RXTE / INTEGRAL / Swift satellites at the onset phase of the 2011 outburst of the X-ray source IGR J17091-3624. The evolution of the spectral and temporal properties of the source in this phase clearly…

In the past decades, the phenomenology of fast time variations of high-energy flux from black-hole binaries has increased, thanks to the availability of more and more sophisticated space observatories, and a complex picture has emerged.…

Black-hole binaries are important sources through which studying accretion onto compact objects. In the X/gamma-ray domain, these objects show several and complex spectral behaviours and transitions. Based on INTEGRAL observations collected…

We review the timing and spectral evolution of black hole X-ray binary systems, with emphasis on the current accretion-ejection paradigm. When in outburst, stellar mass black hole binaries may become the brightest X-ray sources in the sky.…