Related papers: The Black Hole Evolution and Space Time (BEST) Obs…
The hard x-ray (10-600 keV) sky is inherently time variable and yet has neither been surveyed nor monitored with a sensitive imaging telescope. The Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey Telescope (EXIST) is a mission concept, proposed for MIDEX,…
XEUS is under study by ESA as part of the Horizon 2000+ program to utilize the International Space Station (ISS) for astronomical applications. XEUS will be a long-term X-ray observatory with an initial mirror area of 6m2 at 1 keV that will…
The cosmic black hole accretion density (BHAD) is critical for our understanding of the formation and evolution of supermassive black holes (BHs). However, at high redshifts ($z>3$), X-ray observations report BHADs significantly ($\sim 10$…
The growth of supermassive black holes is strongly linked to their galaxies. It has been shown that the population mean black-hole accretion rate ($\overline{\mathrm{BHAR}}$) primarily correlates with the galaxy stellar mass ($M_\star$) and…
The Soft X-ray Imager (SXI) is one of the three instruments on board EXIST, a multi-wavelength observatory in charge of performing a global survey of the sky in hard X-rays searching for Super-massive Black Holes (Grindlay & Natalucci,…
In this review we discuss the population of stellar-mass black holes in our galaxy and beyond, which are the extreme endpoints of massive star evolution. In particular we focus on how we can attempt to balance the available accretion energy…
The structure of the accretion flow onto supermassive black holes (SMBH) is not well understood. Standard disc models match to zeroth order in predicting substantial energy dissipation within optically-thick material producing a…
Recent X-ray timing and spectral observations of black hole binaries in outburst have redefined methods for investigating the properties of Galactic black holes and the physics of accretion flows. High-frequency X-ray QPOs in 5 systems…
Tracing the formation and evolution of all supermassive black holes, including the obscured ones, understanding how black holes influence their surroundings and how matter behaves under extreme conditions, are recognized as key science…
X-ray polarisation measurement is a unique tool which may provide crucial information regarding the emission mechanism and the geometry of various astrophysical sources, like neutron stars, accreting black holes, pulsar wind nebulae, AGNs,…
We present a semi-analytical binary black hole (BBH) metric approximation that models the entire evolution of the system from inspiral to merger. The metric is constructed as a boosted Kerr-Schild superposition following post-Newtonian (PN)…
Astrometry from the Gaia mission was recently used to discover the two nearest known stellar-mass black holes (BHs), Gaia BH1 and Gaia BH2. Both systems contain $\sim 1\,M_{\odot}$ stars in wide orbits ($a\approx$1.4 AU, 4.96 AU) around…
We compare all the available observational data on the redshift evolution of the total stellar mass and star formation rate density in the Universe with the mass and accretion rate density evolution of supermassive black holes, estimated…
Submillimeter interferometry has the potential to image supermassive black holes on event horizon scales, providing tests of the theory of general relativity and increasing our understanding of black hole accretion processes. The Event…
Large extragalactic surveys allow us to trace, in a statistical sense, how supermassive black holes, their host galaxies, and their dark matter halos evolve together over cosmic time, and so explore the consequences of AGN feedback on…
The discovery of gravitational waves from binary black hole mergers has renewed interest in primordial black holes forming a part of the dark matter density of our Universe. Various tests have been proposed to test this hypothesis. One of…
Kerr black hole (BH) superradiance can form gravitational atoms and produce characteristic gravitational-wave signals, providing a probe of ultralight bosons and dark matter. In realistic systems, accretion-disk gravity can shift energy…
A comprehensive wideband spectral analysis of the brightest black hole X-ray binary 4U $1543-47$ during its 2021 outburst is carried out for the first time using NICER, NuSTAR, and AstroSat observations by phenomenological and reflection…
We use semi-analytic techniques to evaluate the burst sensitivity of designs for the EXIST hard X-ray survey mission. Applying these techniques to the mission design proposed for the Beyond Einstein program, we find that with its very large…
We present the evolution of black holes (BHs) and their relationship with their host galaxies in Astrid, a large-volume cosmological hydrodynamical simulation with box size 250 $h^{-1} \rm Mpc$ containing $2\times5500^3$ particles evolved…