Related papers: Probing black-hole accretion through time variabil…
Quantifying the variability, measured as the root mean square (rms), of accreting systems as a function of energy is a powerful tool for constraining the physical properties of these objects. Here, we present the first application of this…
Black hole accretion and jet formation have long been thought to be scale invariant. One empirical relation suggesting scale invariance is the Fundamental Plane of Black Hole activity, which is a plane in the space given by black hole mass…
In this paper we describe the potential of the enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry (eXTP) mission for studies related to accretion flows in the strong field gravity regime around both stellar-mass and supermassive black-holes. eXTP has…
An accreting system in two-temperature regime, admits multiple solutions for the same set of constants of motion, producing widely different spectra. Comparing observed spectrum with that derived from a randomly chosen accretion solution,…
Black Hole Explorer (BHEX) is a space VLBI mission concept, which can probe the black hole spacetime and the plasma properties including the magnetic fields of the accretion flows and relativistic jets. We propose science cases anticipated…
The ultra-luminous intermediate-mass black-hole system HLX-1 in the ESO 243-49 galaxy exhibits variability with a possible recurrence time of a few hundred days. Finding the origin of this variability would constrain the still largely…
The galactic black hole binary systems give an observational template showing how the accretion flow changes as a function of increasing mass accretion rate, or L/L_Edd. These data can be synthetised with theoretical models of the accretion…
Accretion disks around supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei produce continuum radiation at ultraviolet and optical wavelengths. Physical processes in the accretion flow lead to stochastic variability of this emission on a wide…
Accretion in black hole X-ray binaries is commonly believed to be supplied by the Roche lobe overflow or the stellar wind. The former is thought to form a geometrically thin disc while the diffuse wind could form a geometrically thick hot…
As described in the review by Marek Abramowicz (these proceedings), accretion theory is at something of a crossroads. Many theoretical descriptions of observations have centered on the ``hydrodynamic'' approach of the ``standard'' Shakura &…
To better constrain the emission mechanism underlying the hard state of galactic black hole candidates, we use high-time resolution RXTE lightcurves for Cyg X-1 and GX 399-4 to compute two higher order variability statistics for these…
The emission from black hole binaries (BHBs) and active galactic nuclei (AGNs) displays significant aperiodic variabilities. The most promising explanation for these variabilities is the propagating fluctuations in the accretion flow. It is…
The broad-band variability of many accreting systems displays characteristic structure; log-normal flux distributions, RMS-flux relations, and long inter-band lags. These characteristics are usually interpreted as inward propagating…
Recently, it has been shown that soft-state black hole X-ray binaries and active galactic nuclei populate a plane in the space defined by the black hole mass, accretion rate and characteristic frequency. We show that this plane can be…
Hierarchical structure formation inevitably leads to the formation of supermassive binary black holes (BBHs) with a sub-parsec separation in galactic nuclei. However, to date there has been no unambiguous detection of such systems. In an…
(Abridged) Recent XMM-Newton studies of X-ray variability in the hard states of black hole X-ray binaries (BHXRBs) imply that the variability is generated in the 'standard' optically-thick accretion disc. The variability originates in the…
X-ray binaries exhibit complex variability patterns studied in the power-spectrum. These include the broad-band noise (BBN) components and various types of narrow components called quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs). There is currently no…
We explore the evolution in power of black holes of all masses, and their associated jets, within the scheme of an accretion rate-dependent state transition. Below a critical value of the accretion rate all systems are assumed to undergo a…
Short-term variability of X-ray continuum spectra has been reported for several Active Galactic Nuclei. Significant X-ray flux variations are observed within time scales down to 10^3-10^5 seconds. We discuss short variability time scales in…
We report on unprecedented short-term variations detected in the optical flux from the black hole binary system, V4641 Sgr. Amplitudes of the optical fluctuations were larger at longer time scales, and surprisingly reached ~60% around a…