Related papers: Hard X-Ray broadband spectroscopy of Mrk 876: char…
We present the first results from a detailed spectral-timing analysis of a long ($\sim$130 ks) XMM-Newton observation and quasi-simultaneous NuSTAR and Swift observations of the highly-accreting narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 1044. The…
We report on the iron K-alpha line properties of a sample of Seyfert galaxies observed with the XMM-Newton EPIC pn instrument. Using a systematic and uniform analysis, we find that complexity at iron-K is extremely common in the XMM…
Understanding the nature of the accretion disk, its interplay with the X-ray corona, and assessing black hole spin demographics are some open challenges in astrophysics. In this work, we examine the predictions of the standard $\alpha$-disk…
(Abridged) Soft and hard X-ray excesses, compared to the continuum power-law shape between ~2-10 keV, are common features observed in the spectra of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and are associated with the accretion disc-corona system…
We study the hard-X-ray spectral properties of ten highly luminous radio-quiet (RQ) active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at z=1.3-3.2, including new XMM-Newton observations of four of these sources. We find a significant correlation between the…
We present results from a deep, coordinated $XMM$-$Newton$ + $NuSTAR$ observation of the type 1 Seyfert PG 1426+015, a source of particular interest as the most massive reverberation-mapped black hole to date ($\log [M_{\rm{BH}}/M_{\odot}]$…
We report the spectral analysis of accretion powered millisecond X-ray pulsar SAX J1748.9-2021 from the NuSTAR observation made during its 2015 outburst. The spectra displayed a broad emission line at $\sim 6.5$ keV with line width of $\sim…
We study reflected X-ray emission that returns to the accretion disc in the strong gravitational fields around black holes using General Relativistic ray tracing and radiative transfer calculations. Reflected X-rays that are produced when…
The relativistic broad iron lines seen in the X-ray spectra of several active galaxies and Galactic black hole systems are reviewed. Most such objects require emission from within the innermost stable orbit of a non-rotating black hole,…
X-ray reflection is a very powerful method to assess the spin of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in active galactic nuclei (AGN), yet this technique is not universally accepted. Indeed, complex reprocessing (absorption, scattering) of the…
X-ray data for quasar 4C 74.26 have previously been modeled with a broad Fe K$\alpha$ emission line and reflection continuum originating in the inner part of the accretion disk around the central supermassive black hole (SMBH), i.e. the…
I review the current status of X-ray reflection (a.k.a. broad iron line) based black hole spin measurements. This is a powerful technique that allows us to measure robust black hole spins across the mass range, from the stellar-mass black…
We report the detection of relativistically broadened iron K alpha emission in the X-ray spectra of AGN detected in the 4Ms CDF-S. Using the Bayesian X-ray analysis (BXA) package, we fit 199 hard band (2-7 keV) selected sources in the…
We apply a reflection-based model to the best available XMM-Newton spectra of X-ray bright UltraLuminous X-ray (ULX) sources (NGC 1313 X-1, NGC 1313 X-2, M 81 X-6, Holmberg IX X-1, NGC 5408 X-1 and Holmberg II X-1). A spectral drop is…
Any cold, optically-thick matter in the vicinity of an accreting black hole, such as the accretion disk, can intercept and reprocess some fraction of the hard X-ray continuum emission, thereby imprinting atomic features into the observed…
The hard X-ray emission of active galactic nuclei (AGN), and in particular, the reflection component, is shaped by the innermost and outer regions of the galactic nucleus. Our main goal is to investigate the variation of the Compton hump…
We compare X-ray emission from several general relativistic, multi-frequency, radiation magnetohydrodynamic simulations of thin black hole accretion disks with different accretion rates and spins. The simulations were performed using the M1…
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…
We present three simultaneous/quasi-simultaneous NuSTAR and Swift datasets of the black hole GRS 1716-249 in its hard intermediate state. The accretion disk in this state may have reached the innermost stable circular orbit, and the NuSTAR…
The X-ray spectra of many active galactic nuclei (AGN) exhibit a `soft excess' below 1keV, whose physical origin remains unclear. Diverse models have been suggested to account for it, including ionised reflection of X-rays from the inner…