Related papers: The X-ray Disk/Wind Degeneracy in AGN
15 years of XMM-Newton observations have established that ultra-fast, highly ionized winds are common in radio-quiet AGN. A simple theory of Eddington-limited accretion correctly predicts the typical velocity (~0.1c) and high ionization of…
X-ray reverberation in AGN, believed to be the result of the reprocessing of corona photons by the underlying accretion disk, has allowed us to probe the properties of the inner-most regions of the accretion flow and the central black hole.…
We present a detailed analysis of the XMM-Newton long-look of the Seyfert galaxy IC 4329a. The Fe K bandpass is dominated by two resolved peaks at 6.4 keV and 7.0 keV, consistent with neutral or near-neutral Fe K alpha and K beta emission.…
Analysis of spectral absorption features has led to the identification of several distinct outflow components in AGNs. The outflowing gas is evidently photoionized by the nuclear continuum source and originates in the accretion flow toward…
We present the first high-resolution XRISM/Resolve view of the relativistically broadened Fe K line in Cygnus X-1. The data clearly separate the relativistic broad line from the underlying continuum and from narrow emission and absorption…
X-ray polarimetry is a fine tool to probe the accretion geometry and physical processes operating in the proximity of compact objects, black holes and neutron stars. Recent discoveries made by the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer put our…
We study the radial ionization structure at the surface of an X-ray illuminated accretion disk. We plot the expected iron K$\alpha$ line energy as a function of the Eddington ratio and of the distance of the emitting matter from the central…
We present a comprehensive study of the emission spectra from accreting sources. We use our new reflection code to compute the reflected spectra from an accretion disk illuminated by X-rays. This set of models covers different values of…
The nature of the broad-band spectra of supermassive accreting black holes in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is still unknown. The hard X-ray spectra of Seyferts as well as of Galactic stellar-mass black holes (GBHs) are well represented by…
Black hole accretion disks appear to produce invariably plasma outflows that result in blue-shifted absorption features in their spectra. The X-ray absorption-line properties of these outflows are quite diverse, ranging in velocity from…
Reprocessed X-ray radiation from active galactic nuclei (AGN) carries important information about the properties of the circumnuclear material around the black hole. The X-ray photons travel from the very center of the system and interact…
AGN exhibit complex hard X-ray spectra. Our current understanding is that the emission is dominated by inverse Compton processes which take place in the corona above the accretion disk, and that absorption and reflection in a distant…
Based on recent X-ray observations, ultra-fast outflows from supermassive black holes are expected to have enough energy to dramatically affect their host galaxy but their launch and acceleration mechanisms are not well understood. We…
Flourescent iron line profiles currently provide the best diagnostic for active galactic nuclei (AGN) engine geometries. Here we construct a method for calculating the relativistic iron line profile from an arbitrarily warped accretion…
We present a model which relates the Broad Emission Line Regions of AGN to the accretion mechanism. Based on the Keplerian assumption for the high velocity clouds of the gas responsible for the production of the Broad Emission Lines, we…
Although disk accretion onto compact objects - white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes - is central to much of high energy astrophysics, the mechanisms which enable this process have remained observationally elusive. Accretion disks…
In our self-similar, analytical, magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) accretion-ejection solution, the density at the base of the outflow is explicitly dependent on the disk accretion rate - a unique property of this class of solutions. We had…
An increasing number of AGNs exhibit broad, double-peaked Balmer emission lines, which are thought to arise from the outer regions of the accretion disk which fuels the AGN. The line profiles are observed to vary on a characteristic…
In a previous paper (Henri & Petrucci, hereafter paper I), we have derived a new model in order to explain the UV and X-ray emission of radio quiet AGNs. This model assumes that a point source of relativistic leptons (e+,e-) illuminates the…
We present a new code for calculating the Fe Kalpha line profiles from relativistic accretion disks with finite thickness around a rotating black hole. The thin Keplerian accretion disk must become thicker and sub-Keplerian with increasing…