Related papers: Relativistic Reflection: Review and Recent Develop…
Black holes hold a tremendous discovery potential. In this paper the extent to which the Event Horizon Telescope and its next generation upgrade can resolve their structure is quantified. Black holes are characterized by a perfectly…
X-ray observations of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) reveal relativistic reflections from the innermost regions of accretion disks, which contain general-relativistic footprints caused by spinning supermassive black holes (SMBH). We…
We discuss a model of an X-ray illuminating source above an accretion disk of a rotating black hole. Within the so called lamp-post scheme we compute the expected (observed) polarization properties of the radiation reaching an observer. We…
Special and general relativistic effects on the X-ray emissions, especially the continuum spectra, from the accretion disks around black holes are investigated using the ray-tracing method. Because both the special and general relativistic…
This is a collection of notes to calculate electromagnetic spectra of geometrically thin and optically thick accretion disks around black holes. The presentation is intentionally pedagogical and most calculations are reported step by step.…
We extend the investigation of general relativistic effects on the observed X-ray continuum of Kerr black holes in the context of the light bending model (Miniutti & Fabian, 2004). Assuming a ring-like illuminating source, co-rotating with…
The X-ray spectra of accreting stellar-mass black hole systems exhibit spectral features due to reflection, especially broad iron K alpha emission lines. We investigate the reflection by the accretion disc that can be expected in the…
Accretion around black holes is very often characterized by distinctive X-ray reflection features (mostly, iron inner-shell transitions), which arise due to the primary radiation being reprocessed by a dense and relatively colder medium,…
Signatures of X-ray reprocessing (reflection) out of an accretion disk are commonly observed in the high-energy spectrum of accreting black holes, and can be used to probe the strong gravity region around these objects. In this paper, we…
A theory is presented (and supported by numerical simulations) for phase-coherent reflection of light by a disordered medium which either absorbs or amplifies radiation. The distribution of reflection eigenvalues is shown to be the Laguerre…
The models currently used for the analysis of the reflection spectra of black holes usually assume a disk with constant ionization and electron density. However, there is some debate on the impact of these assumptions on the estimate of the…
Spectral lines from a source orbiting around a compact object are studied. Time variations of observed frequency and count rate due to motion of the source and gravitational lensing are considered. Gravitational field of the central object…
X-ray irradiation of the accretion disc leads to strong reflection features, which are then broadened and distorted by relativistic effects. We present a detailed, general relativistic approach to model this irradiation for different…
We identify the reflected component in the GINGA spectra of Nova Muscae, a Black Hole transient system which has been used as the prototype for the recent advection dominated disk models. We see that the reflected spectrum is generally…
Neutron reflectometry is a critical tool for investigating the structure of thin films and interfaces. However, the misapplication of the Born approximation to reflection geometry leads some to assume that the minimum thickness that may be…
Retrolensing is a gravitational lensing effect in which light emitted by a background source is deflected by a black hole and redirected toward the observer after undergoing nearly complete loops around the black hole. In this context, we…
Increasing requirements in the sensitivity of interferometric measurements is a common feature of several research fields, from gravitational wave detection to quantum optics. This motivates refined studies of high reflectivity mirrors and…
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…
We have developed improved spectral models of relativistic reflection in the lamppost and disc-corona geometries. The models calculate photon transfer in the Kerr metric and give the observed photon-energy spectra produced by either thermal…
X-ray reflection spectroscopy is a powerful tool for testing the Kerr hypothesis and probing the strong gravity regime around accreting black holes. Most tests of General Relativity (GR) assume that the spacetime around a black hole is…