Related papers: High Density Reflection Spectroscopy: II. the Dens…
Narrow absorption lines seen in the 2-10 keV spectra of active galaxies and Galactic black holes are normally attributed to iron in high velocity outflows or inflows. We consider the possibility that such features could arise naturally in…
Here we discuss the effects of strong gravity that can be observed in electromagnetic spectra of active galactic nuclei (AGN). According to the unification model of an AGN, there is a supermassive black hole ($10^7 - 10^9 M_\odot$) in its…
We reexamine the hypothesis that the optical/UV/soft X-ray continuum of Active Galactic Nuclei is thermal emission from an accretion disk. Previous studies have shown that fitting the spectra with the standard, optically thick and…
Spectral features can arise by reflection of coronal X-rays on a black hole accretion disc. The resulting profile bears various imprints of strong gravitational field acting on the light emitting gas. The observed shape of the reflection…
The X-ray spectra of active galactic nuclei (AGN) unveil properties of matter around the super massive black hole (SMBH). We investigate the X-ray spectra of AGN focusing on Compton reflection and fluorescence, important processes of…
A recent revision of black hole scaling relations (Kormendy & Ho 2013), indicates that the local mass density in black holes should be increased by up to a factor of five with respect to previously determined values. The local black hole…
We present a large sample of type 1 AGN spectra taken with XMM-Newton. We fit them with the relativistically blurred photoionized disc model of Ross & Fabian (2005). This model is based on an illuminated accretion disc of fluorescing and…
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…
We discuss constraints on the physics of the inner accretion disk, as well as the properties of the black hole itself, that can be derived by a detailed examination of the relativistically broadened spectral features (especially the…
Using the latest 70 month Swift-BAT catalog we examined hard X-ray selected Seyfert I galaxies which are relatively little known and little studied, and yet potentially promising to test the ionized relativistic reflection model. From this…
We present an analysis of XMM-Newton observations of eleven Seyfert galaxies that appear to be missing a broad iron K alpha line. These objects represent a challenge to the established paradigm for active galactic nuclei, where a relatively…
The mass of the central black hole in Seyfert galaxies and QSOs can be determined from the broad emission lines and the reverberation method. Using the measured black hole mass and the bolometric or ionizing luminosity, the accretion rate…
We discuss the relationship between a standard Shakura & Sunyaev (1973) accretion disk model and the Big Blue Bump (BBB) observed in Type 1 AGN, and propose a new method to estimate black hole masses. We apply this method to a sample of 23…
We present a spectral analysis of the NuSTAR and XMM-Newton observations of the Seyfert 1h galaxy/ULIRG IRAS 05189-2524 taken in 2013. We find evidence for relativistic disk reflection in the broadband X-ray spectrum: a highly asymmetric…
In the absence of direct kinematic measurements, the mass of an accreting black hole is sometimes inferred from the X-ray spectral parameters of its accretion disk; specifically, from the temperature and normalization of a disk-blackbody…
Radiation emitted from an accretion disk around a massive black hole is a widely discussed model for the UV/soft X-ray excess emission observed in the spectra of many AGN. A self-consistent calculation of the structure and the emerging…
Self-gravitating accretion discs have only been studied in a few nearby objects using maser spots at the parsec-scale. We find a new spectral window for observing the self-gravitating accretion disc in super-Eddington accreting Active…
Narrow-line Seyfert 1 AGNs (NLS1s) represent a unique stage in the black hole growth history, characterised by low black hole masses of approximately $10^{6}$-$10^{8}$ solar masses and around-Eddington accretion rates. X-ray studies of…
We analyze 15,000 spectra of 29 stellar-mass black hole candidates collected over the 16-year mission lifetime of RXTE using a simple phenomenological model. As these black holes vary widely in luminosity and progress through a sequence of…
Accretion disc model fitting to optical/UV quasar spectra requires that the highest mass black holes have the highest spin, with implications on the hierarchical growth of supermassive black holes and their host galaxies over cosmic time.…