Related papers: Black Hole Binaries in Quiescence
I review observations of the X-ray spectra of Galactic Black Hole Candidates, and theoretical ideas as to how these can be produced. X-ray reflection should enable different source geometries to be distinguished, but the ionisation…
We study a novel electromagnetic signature of supermassive black hole binaries whose inspiral starts being dominated by gravitational wave (GW) emission. Recent simulations suggest that the binary's member BHs can continue to accrete gas…
We examine whether massive binary black holes in spherically symmetric bulges of galaxies can achieve coalescence through the emission of gravitational radiation under the action of stellar dynamical processes alone. In particular, we…
The properties of precessing, coalescing binary black holes are presently inferred through comparison with two approximate models of compact binary coalescence. In this work we show these two models often disagree substantially when…
Over the past year, a handful of new gravitational wave models have been developed to include multiple harmonic modes thereby enabling for the first time fully Bayesian inference studies including higher modes to be performed. Using one…
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…
The observations and theory of the exciting new class of galactic black hole X-ray transients is reviewed. Seven of these systems have measured mass functions or mass estimates in excess of stable neutron stars, making them excellent black…
X-ray binaries are excellent laboratories to study collapsed objects. On the one hand, transient X-ray binaries contain the best examples of stellar-mass black holes while persistent X-ray binaries mostly harbour accreting neutron stars.…
The accelerated expansion of the universe is ascribed to the existence of dark energy. Black holes accretion of dark energy induces a mass change proportional to the energy density and pressure of the background dark energy fluid. The time…
We present a study of the gravitational time delay of arrival of signals from binary pulsar systems with rotating black hole companions. In particular, we investigate the strength of this effect (Shapiro delay) as a function of the…
The Galactic black hole X-ray binary XTE J1650-500 entered a quiescent regime following the decline from the 2001-2002 outburst that led to its discovery. Here we report on the first detection of its quiescent counterpart in a 36 ks…
We study time evolution and gravitational wave emission properties of a black hole orbiting {\it inside} an accretion disk surrounding a massive black hole. We simultaneously solve the structure equations of the accretion disk in presence…
A large fraction of X-ray sources in our Galaxy are low-mass X-ray binaries, containing a black hole or a neutron star accreting from a gravitationally bound low-mass ($\leq$1 M$_\odot$) companion star. These systems are among the older…
Black hole X-ray binaries in the quiescent state (Eddington ratios typically $\lesssim$10$^{-5}$) display softer X-ray spectra (photon indices $\Gamma\sim2$) compared to higher-luminosity black hole X-ray binaries in the hard state…
Observations of soft X-ray transients (SXTs) in quiescence have found that the binaries harboring black holes are fainter than those that contain a neutron star. Narayan and collaborators postulated that the faint X-ray emission from black…
Quiescent black hole X-ray binaries (X-ray luminosities <1e34 erg/s) are believed to be fed by hot accretion flows that launch compact, relativistic jets. However, due to their low luminosities, quiescent jets have been detected in the…
Accretion of dark energy onto black holes will take place when dark energy is not a cosmological constant. It has been proposed that the time evolution of the mass of the black holes in binary systems due to dark energy accretion could be…
The Accretion-Ejection Instability has been proposed to explain the low frequency Quasi-Periodic Oscillation (QPO) observed in low-mass X-Ray Binaries, in particular Black-Hole candidates. Its frequency, typically a fraction of the…
Deep observations with the Very Large Array of A0620-00, performed in 2005 August, resulted in the first detection of radio emission from a black hole binary at X-ray luminosities as low as 10^{-8.5} times the Eddington limit. The measured…
The characteristics of black-hole X-ray binaries can be used to obtain information about their evolutionary history and the process of black-hole formation. In this paper I focus on systems with donor masses lower than the inferred…