Related papers: The X-ray Disk/Wind Degeneracy in AGN
Highly-ionized fast accretion-disk winds have been suggested as an explanation for a variety of observed absorption and emission features in the X-ray spectra of Active Galactic Nuclei. Simple estimates have suggested that these flows may…
In X-ray binaries, the frequencies revealed in X-ray quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) are often interpreted as characteristic frequencies in the inner accretion disk, though the exact oscillation mechanism is unknown at present. Broadened…
We discuss some topical issues related to the Fe K emission lines in AGNs. We show remarkable agreement between non-contemporaneous ASCA and Chandra grating data and explain why there has been terrible confusion about the ASCA and post-ASCA…
Single-frequency emission from an accretion disk around a black hole is broadened into a line profile due to gravitational redshift and the motion of the disk's particles relative to the observer. The ensemble of relativistically broadened…
We discuss the expected X-ray spectral and variability properties of black hole accretion discs at high luminosity, under the hypothesis that radiation pressure dominated discs are subject to violent clumping instabilities and, as a result,…
Understanding the physics and geometry of accretion and ejection around super massive black holes (SMBHs) is important to understand the evolution of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and therefore of the large scale structures of the Universe.…
The latest analysis efforts in reverberation mapping are beginning to allow reconstruction of echo images (or velocity-delay maps) that encode information about the structure and kinematics of the broad line region (BLR) in active galactic…
We present modeling results for the reprocessed radiation expected from magnetic flares above AGN accretion disks. Relativistic corrections for the orbital motion of the flare and for the curved space-time in the vicinity of the black hole…
We report on a detailed optical spectroscopic follow-up of the black hole transient MAXI J1820+070 (ASASSN-18ey). The observations cover the main part of the X-ray binary outburst, when the source alternated between hard and soft states…
I review the main results from recent 2-D, time-dependent hydrodynamic models of radiation-driven winds from accretion disks in AGN. I also discuss the physical conditions needed for a disk wind to be shielded from the strong X-rays and to…
The evolution of an accretion disk can be influenced significantly by the deposition of mass and angular momentum by an infalling Bondi-Hoyle wind. Such a mass influx impacts the long-term behavior of the disk by providing additional…
Accretion discs in strong gravity ubiquitously produce winds, seen as blueshifted absorption lines in the X-ray band of both stellar mass X-ray binaries (black holes and neutron stars), and supermassive black holes. Some of the most…
The recent detection of X-ray reverberation lags, especially in the Fe K\alpha\ line region, around Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) has opened up the possibility of studying the time-resolved response (reflection) of hard X-rays from the…
Angular momentum, or spin, is a fundamental property of black holes (BHs), yet it is much more difficult to estimate than mass or accretion rate (for actively accreting systems). In recent years, high-quality X-ray observations have allowed…
We summarize recent developments in modeling of mass outflows from accretion disks in AGN. We illustrate how the hydrodynamical and magnetohydrodynamical wind structures revealed in numerical simulations relate to observations. Important…
A large fraction of accreting black hole and neutron stars systems present clear evidence of the reprocessing of X-rays in the atmosphere of an optically-thick accretion disk. The main hallmarks of X-ray reflection include fluorescent…
We present 6.4 keV iron K-alpha fluorescent line profiles predicted for a relativistic black hole accretion disk in the presence of a spiral motion in Kerr geometry, the work extended from an earlier literature motivated by recent…
We review the evidence for AGN optical and X-ray broad line emission from an accretion disk. We argue that there is little, if any, statistical evidence to support this assertion. The inconsistency is strongest for the rare class of Balmer…
One of the most promising methods to measure the spin of an accreting black hole is fitting the broad iron K$\alpha$ line in the X-ray spectrum. The line profile also depends on the geometry of the hard X-ray emitting corona. To put…
Accretion disk winds are thought to produce many of the characteristic features seen in the spectra of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and quasi-stellar objects (QSOs). These outflows also represent a natural form of feedback between the…