Related papers: Testing Relativistic Accretion Disk Models with GR…
Black hole X-ray binaries are ideal environments to study the accretion phenomena in strong gravitational potentials. These systems undergo dramatic accretion state transitions and analysis of the X-ray spectra is used to probe the…
We present results from spectral modeling of three black hole X-ray binaries: LMC X-3, GRO J1655-40, and XTE J1550-564. Using a sample of disk dominated observations, we fit the data with a range of spectral models that includes a simple…
We present a general relativistic accretion disc model and its application to the soft-state X-ray spectra of black hole binaries. The model assumes a flat, optically thick disc around a rotating Kerr black hole. The disc locally radiates…
We use a ray-tracing technique to compute the observed spectrum of a thin accretion disk around a Kerr black hole. We include all relativistic effects such as frame-dragging, Doppler boost, gravitational redshift, and bending of light by…
Fitting the thermal continuum emission of accreting black holes observed across X-ray bands represents one of the principle means of constraining the properties (mass and spin) of astrophysical black holes. Recent ''continuum fitting''…
We discuss black hole spin measurements employing the relativistic iron line profiles in the X-ray domain. We investigate the iron line band for two representative sources -- MCG -6-30-15 (active galaxy) and GX 339-4 (X-ray binary). We…
We discuss the observational consequences of black hole spin in X-ray binaries within the framework of the standard thin accretion disk model. When compared to theoretical flux distribution from the surface of a thin disk surrounding a Kerr…
Puffy disc is a numerical model, expected to capture the properties of the accretion flow in X-ray black hole binaries in the luminous, mildly sub-Eddington state. We fit the kerrbb and kynbb spectral models in XSPEC to synthetic spectra of…
General relativistic effects are strong near the black hole of an X-ray binary and significantly impact the total energy released at the innermost accretion disk's region. Our goal is to fully incorporate the black hole's spin and all the…
The analysis of the thermal spectrum of geometrically thin and optically thick accretion disks of black holes, the so-called continuum-fitting method, is one of the leading techniques for measuring black hole spins. Current models normally…
This is the first of two papers in which we address the physics of the low-frequency Quasi-Periodic Oscillation (QPO) of X-ray binaries, in particular those hosting a black hole. We discuss and repeat the recent analysis and spectral…
We report on simultaneous Chandra/HETGS and RXTE observations of the transient stellar-mass black hole GRO J1655-40, made during its 2005 outburst. Chandra reveals a line-rich X-ray absorption spectrum consistent with a disk wind. Prior…
X-ray reflection spectroscopy has evolved as one of the leading methods to measure black hole spins. However, the question is whether its measurements are subjected to systematic biases, especially considering the possible discrepancy…
We explore the accretion properties of the black hole X-ray binary \j1550\ during its outbursts in 1998/99 and 2000. We model the disk, corona, and reflection components of X-ray spectra taken with the {\it Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer}…
We present a systematic analysis of the fast time variability properties of the transient black hole binary GRO J1655-40, based on the complete set of RossiXTE observations. We demonstrate that the frequencies of the quasi-periodic…
Chandra obtained two High Energy Transmission Grating (HETG) spectra of the stellar-mass black hole GRO J1655-40 during its 2005 outburst, revealing a rich and complex disk wind. Soon after its launch, the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory…
We selected a sample of 28 Type 1 AGNs for which a black hole mass has been inferred using the reverberation mapping technique and single epoch scaling relations. All 28 sources show clear evidence of the "Big Blue Bump" in the optical-UV…
In a previous paper, we presented an extension of our reflection model RELXILL_NK to include the finite thickness of the accretion disk following the prescription in Taylor & Reynolds (2018). In this paper, we apply our model to fit the…
Based on a spectral analysis of the X-ray continuum that employs a fully relativistic accretion-disk model, we conclude that the compact primary of the binary X-ray source GRS 1915+105 is a rapidly-rotating Kerr black hole. We find a lower…
We fit X-ray spectral data in the thermal dominant or high soft state of two dynamically confirmed black holes, GRO J1655-40 and 4U 1543-47, and estimate the dimensionless spin parameters a* = a/M of the two holes. For GRO J1655-40, using a…