Related papers: Constraining the Kerr parameters via X-ray reflect…
The Hairy Kerr black hole is a novel black hole solution that depicts a rotating space-time encompassed by an axisymmetric fluid. It has significant observational importance and is an excellent candidate for an astrophysical black hole. Our…
Very steep reflection emissivity profiles in the inner part of accretion disks are commonly found in the analysis of X-ray observations of black hole binaries and AGN, but there is some debate about their exact origin. While steep…
We extend our previous work on tests of the Kerr black hole hypothesis using X-ray reflection spectroscopy and we infer observational constraints on the Johannsen deformation parameter $\epsilon_3$. We analyze a NuSTAR observation of the…
We present the study of a sample of seven "bare" active galactic nuclei (AGN) observed with Suzaku. We interpret the spectrum of these sources with a relativistic reflection component and we employ our model RELXILL_NK to test the Kerr…
We propose a new method to determine the physical parameters of Kerr black holes (namely, specific angular momentum $a$, inclination angle $i$, and distance $D$ from an observer) only from the shadow's information such as the size and…
Parameterized Kerr spacetimes allow us to test the nature of black holes in model-independent ways. Such spacetimes contain several arbitrary functions and, as a matter of practicality, one Taylor expands them about infinity and keeps only…
Blurred 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 is a powerful tool to probe the…
Einstein's gravity has undergone extensive tests in the weak field gravitational limit, with results in agreement with theoretical predictions. There exist theories beyond general relativity (GR) which modify gravity in the strong field…
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…
In this paper we present a fully relativistic approach to modelling both the continuum emission and the reflected fluorescent iron line from a primary X-ray source near a Kerr black hole. The X-ray source is located above an accretion disc…
General relativity makes clear predictions about the spacetime geometry around black holes. In the near future, new facilities will have the capability to explore the metric around SgrA$^*$, the supermassive black hole candidate at the…
The analysis of the properties of the X-ray radiation emitted from geometrically thin accretion disks around black holes can be a powerful tool to test General Relativity in the strong field regime. This chapter reviews the state-of-the-art…
The iron line and the continuum-fitting methods are currently the two leading techniques for measuring black hole spins with electromagnetic radiation. They can be naturally extended for probing the spacetime geometry around black holes and…
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…
We performed detailed calculations of the relativistic effects acting on both the reflection continuum and the iron line from accretion discs around rotating black holes. Fully relativistic transfer of both illuminating and reprocessed…
We study the effect caused by external magnetic fields on the observed thermal spectra and iron line profiles of thin accretion discs formed around Kerr black holes and naked singularities. We aim to provide a tool that can be used to…
Several massive black holes exhibit flux variability on time scales that correspond to source sizes of the order of few Schwarzschild radii. We survey the potential of near-infrared and X-ray polarimetry to constrain physical properties of…
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…
The present paper is a sequel to our previous work [Y. Ni et al., JCAP 1607, 049 (2016)] in which we studied the iron K$\alpha$ line expected in the reflection spectrum of Kerr black holes with scalar hair. These metrics are solutions of…
The recent time witnessed a surge of interest in strong gravitational lensing by black holes is due to the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) results, which suggest comparing the black hole lensing in both general relativity and heterotic string…