Related papers: Measuring Black Hole Spin using X-ray Reflection S…
Black hole spin is a quantity of great interest to both physicists and astrophysicists. We review the current status of spin measurements in supermassive black holes (SMBH). To date, every robust SMBH spin measurement uses X-ray reflection…
X-ray reflection is a very powerful method to assess the spin of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in active galactic nuclei (AGN), yet this technique is not universally accepted. Indeed, complex reprocessing (absorption, scattering) of the…
X-ray reflection spectroscopy has evolved as one of the leading methods to measure black hole spins. However, the question is whether its measurements are subjected to systematic biases, especially considering the possible discrepancy…
Measuring the spins of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in active galactic nuclei (AGN) can inform us about the relative role of gas accretion vs. mergers in recent epochs of the life of the host galaxy and its AGN. Recent advances in…
Relativistic reflection features are commonly observed in the X-ray spectra of accreting black holes. In the presence of high quality data and with the correct astrophysical model, X-ray reflection spectroscopy can be quite a powerful tool…
Being one of only two fundamental properties black holes possess, the spin of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) is of great interest for understanding accretion processes and galaxy evolution. However, in these early days of spin…
The spin of a supermassive black hole (SMBH) is directly related to the radiative efficiency of accretion on to the hole, and therefore impacts the amount of fuel required for the black hole to reach a certain mass. Thus, a knowledge of the…
We review current challenges in understanding the values and origin of the spins of black holes in binaries. Thanks to recent advances in astrophysical instrumentation, the spins can now be measured using both gravitational waves emitted by…
In astronomy, the problem of black holes is arguably second in importance only to the problem of cosmology. A current frontier in black hole research is the measurement of spin. During the past three years, the spins of several stellar-mass…
The spin of a black hole is an important quantity to study, providing a window into the processes by which a black hole was born and grew. Further, spin can be a potent energy source for powering relativistic jets and energetic particle…
We determined the spin value of supermassive black hole (SMBH) in active galactic nuclei (AGN) with investigated ultraviolet-to-optical spectral energy distribution, presented in the sample of Shang et al. (2005). The estimates of the spin…
Over the last decades X-ray spectroscopy has proven to be a powerful tool for the estimation of black hole spin and several other key parameters in dozens of AGN and black hole X-ray binaries. In this White Paper, we discuss the…
Angular momentum, or spin, is a fundamental property of black holes (BHs), yet it is much more difficult to estimate than mass or accretion rate (for actively accreting systems). In recent years, high-quality X-ray observations have allowed…
We discuss constraints on black hole spin and spin-related astrophysics as derived from X-ray spectroscopy. After a brief discussion about the robustness with which X-ray spectroscopy can be used to probe strong gravity, we summarize how…
Understanding the growth of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) requires observational constraints on how their angular momentum (or spin) varies with mass, since the relative importance of coherent accretion, chaotic accretion, and mergers…
Spin measurements of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) provide crucial constraints on the accretion processes that power active galactic nuclei (AGN), fuel outflows, and trigger black hole growth. However, spin measurements are mainly…
We discuss black hole spin measurements employing the relativistic iron line profiles in the X-ray domain. We investigate the iron line band for two representative sources -- MCG -6-30-15 (active galaxy) and GX 339-4 (X-ray binary). We…
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…
The spins of ten stellar black holes have been measured using the continuum-fitting method. These black holes are located in two distinct classes of X-ray binary systems, one that is persistently X-ray bright and another that is transient.…
The launch of NuSTAR and the increasing number of binary black hole (BBH) mergers detected through gravitational wave (GW) observations have exponentially advanced our understanding of black holes. Despite the simplicity owed to being fully…