Related papers: A Broad Iron Line in LMC X-1

The inner radius of the accretion disc around a black hole in the low/hard state can be measured in one of two ways. Firstly, via the extent of broadening of the iron emission line, and secondly, from the luminosity and temperature of the…

We attempt to constrain the black hole spin in GX 339-4 from spectral fitting of disc dominated data using RXTE spectra from the three most recent outbursts. We use the best current models for the disc emission, including full radiative…

The first extragalactic X-ray binary, LMC X-1, was discovered in 1969. In the 1980s, its compact primary was established as the fourth dynamical black-hole candidate. Recently, we published accurate values for the mass of the black hole and…

Understanding the nature of the accretion disk, its interplay with the X-ray corona, and assessing black hole spin demographics are some open challenges in astrophysics. In this work, we examine the predictions of the standard $\alpha$-disk…

Suzaku has, for the first time, enabled the hard X-ray variability of the Seyfert 1 galaxy MCG-6-30-15 to be measured. The variability in the 14-45 keV band, which is dominated by a strong reflection hump, is quenched relative to that at a…

Iron line emission is common in the X-ray spectra of accreting black holes. When the line emission is broad or variable then it is likely to originate from close to the black hole. X-ray irradiation of the accretion flow by the power-law…

4U 1543-47 is a low mass X-ray binary which harbours a stellar-mass black hole located in our Milky Way galaxy. In this paper, we revisit 7 data sets which were in the Steep Power Law state of the 2002 outburst. The spectra were observed by…

We present an X-ray spectral and timing model to investigate the broad and variable iron line seen in the high flux state of Mrk 335. The model consists of a variable X-ray source positioned along the rotation axis of the black hole that…

Using the 770 ksec XMM-Newton survey of the Lockman Hole field in combination with extensive optical identifications of the AGN population, we derive an average rest-frame spectrum of AGN types-1 and 2. The most prominent feature in the…

The relativistic broad iron lines seen in the X-ray spectra of several active galaxies and Galactic black hole systems are reviewed. Most such objects require emission from within the innermost stable orbit of a non-rotating black hole,…

We discuss the application of simple relativistically-blurred X-ray reflection models to the determination of the spin and the inner radius of the disc in accreting black holes. Observationally, the nature of the corona is uncertain a…

Relativistic reflection features in the X-ray spectra of black hole binaries and AGNs originate from illumination of the inner part of the accretion disk by a hot corona. In the presence of high quality data and with the correct…

We report on a Suzaku observation of the newly discovered X-ray binary MAXI J1836-194. The source is found to be in the hard/intermediate spectral state and displays a clear and strong relativistically broadened iron emission line. We fit…

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…

NuSTAR observed the black hole candidate XTE J1908$+$094 during its 2013 and 2019 outbursts. We use relativistic reflection to measure the spin of the black hole through 19 different assumptions of relxill flavors and parameter…

We present results from the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) observations of the new black hole X-ray binary candidate MAXI J1631-479 at two epochs during its 2018-2019 outburst, which caught the source in a disk dominant…

The development of techniques to measure accurately black hole spins is crucial to study the physics and astrophysics of these objects. X-ray reflection spectroscopy is currently the most popular method to estimate the spins of accreting…

In many active galaxies, the X-ray reflection features from the innermost regions of the accretion disc are relativistically distorted. This distortion allows us to measure parameters of the black hole such as its spin. The ratio in flux…

We provided a comprehensive study of the properties of the black hole in the low-mass X-ray binary system 4U 1543-47, specifically focusing on the 2021 outburst (MJD 59380-59470). Using observations from the \textit{Insight}-HXMT mission,…

All prior work on measuring the spins of stellar-mass black holes via the X-ray continuum-fitting method has relied on the use of weakly-Comptonized spectra obtained in the thermal dominant state. Using a self-consistent Comptonization…