Related papers: Continuum emission from within the plunging region…
The nature and geometry of the accretion flow in the low/hard state of black hole binaries is currently controversial. While most properties are generally explained in the truncated disc/hot inner flow model, the detection of a broad…
X-ray binaries in outburst typically show two canonical X-ray spectral states, i.e. hard and soft states, in which the physical properties of the accretion flow and of the jet are known to change. Recently, the JED-SAD paradigm has been…
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…
Our study seeks to address the debate over the spin of MAXI J1820+070 through broadband spectral modeling of NuSTAR observations obtained during the soft state. We further compare our results with previous spin estimates and examine the…
We report on simultaneous XMM-Newton and RXTE observations of the stellar-mass black hole candidate SWIFT J1753.5-0127. The source was observed in the low-hard state, during the decline of a hard outburst. The inner accretion disk is…
The inner boundary of a black hole accretion disk is often set to the marginally stable circular orbit (or the innermost stable circular orbit, ISCO) around the black hole. It is important for the theories of black hole accretion disks and…
We present models of the soft X-ray transients, A0620-00, V404 Cyg, and X-ray Nova Mus 1991, in quiescence. In each source, we postulate that there is an outer region, extending outward from about 3000 Schwarzschild radii, where the…
Accretion flows are fundamentally turbulent systems, yet are classically modelled with viscous theories only valid on length scales significantly greater than the typical size of turbulent eddies in the flow. We demonstrate that, while this…
We analyzed simultaneous archival XMM-Newton and RXTE observations of the X-ray binary and black hole candidate Swift J1753.5-0127. In a previous analysis of the same data a soft thermal component was found in the X-ray spectrum, and the…
Some ultraluminous X-ray sources in nearby galaxies show soft components resembling thermal disc emission. Calculations based on blackbody emission then indicate that the accreting black holes at the centres of these discs have masses of…
We compiled the X-ray and soft gamma-ray observations of the Galactic black hole binary XTE J1859+226 in the 1999--2000 outburst from RXTE, ASCA, BeppoSAX and CGRO. Throughout systematic spectral analysis using a two-component model…
Black-hole binaries are important sources through which studying accretion onto compact objects. In the X/gamma-ray domain, these objects show several and complex spectral behaviours and transitions. Based on INTEGRAL observations collected…
Gas falling quasi-spherically onto a black hole forms an inner accretion disc if its specific angular momentum $l$ exceeds $\lmin\sim r_gc$ where $r_g$ is the Schwarzschild radius. The standard disc model assumes $l\gg\lmin$. We argue that,…
We have observed the hard X-ray selected Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 galaxy SWIFT J2127.4+5654 with Suzaku. We report the detection of a broad relativistic iron emission line from the inner accretion disc. By assuming that the inner edge of the…
One of the most useful spectral diagnostics of accreting black hole systems is the Fe K$\alpha$ fluorescence line. Detected in many systems, it is often used to estimate the black hole spin, as its breadth is attributed to relativistic…
A typical galaxy is thought to contain tens of millions of stellar-mass black holes, the collapsed remnants of once massive stars, and a single nuclear supermassive black hole. Both classes of black holes accrete gas from their…
A set of analytic solutions for the plunging region thermodynamics have been developed recently under the assumption that the fluid undergoes a gravity-dominated geodesic plunge into the black hole. We test this model against a dedicated 3D…
The widely used Novikov-Thorne relativistic thin disc equations are only valid down to the radius of the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO). This leads to an undetermined boundary condition at the ISCO, known as the inner stress of the…
It is commonly believed that accretion discs are truncated and their inner regions are described by advection dominated accretion flows (ADAFs) in the hard spectral state of black hole X-ray binaries. However, the increasing occurrence of a…
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…