Related papers: Is There a Disc in the Superluminal Quasars?
In Tombesi et al. (2015), we reported the first direct evidence for a quasar accretion disk wind driving a massive molecular outflow. The target was F11119+3257, an ultraluminous infrared galaxy (ULIRG) with unambiguous type-1 quasar…
We review constraints on models of the broad line region that are imposed by observations of the emission lines in Active Galactic Nuclei. Comparison of high and low ionization lines in sources with FWHM Hbeta < 4000 km/s points toward low…
X-ray reflection spectra from photoionized accretion discs in active galaxies are presented for a wide range of illumination conditions. The energy, equivalent width (EW) and flux of the Fe K line are shown to depend strongly on the ratio…
This paper sets out to measure the timescale of quasar variability with a view to new understanding of the size of accretion discs in active galactic nuclei. Previous attempts to measure such timescales have been based on sparsely sampled…
A critical review is presented of the current status of our understanding of the the spectral output of thermally-radiating accretion disks around black holes, with special attention to those around supermassive black holes in active…
Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are axisymmetric systems to first order; their observed properties are likely strong functions of inclination with respect to our line of sight, yet the specific inclinations of all but a few AGN are generally…
Measurements of the physical properties of accretion disks in active galactic nuclei are important for better understanding the growth and evolution of supermassive black holes. We present the accretion disk sizes of 22 quasars from…
We show how analysis of a quasar high-magnification microlensing event may be used to construct a map of the frequency-dependent surface brightness of the quasar accretion disk. The same procedure also allows determination of the disk…
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…
We analyze extensive spectroscopic and photometric data of the hypervariable quasar SDSS J131424+530527 (RMID 017) at z=0.456, an optical "changing look" quasar from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping project that increased…
Accretion discs are fundamental to much of astronomy. They can occur around stars both young and old, around compact objects they provide a window into the extremes of physics, and around supermassive black holes in galaxy centres they…
The low frequency radio luminosity is believed to be an indicator of jet power, while the optical/UV emission is probably from accretion discs in the nuclei of steep-spectrum radio quasars. We present a correlation between the ratio of…
We calculate the response of a line emitted from a relativistic accretion disk to a continuum variation of the central illuminating source. This model might be relevant to the very broad and sometimes redshifted emission lines which have…
We study optical phenomena related to appearance of Keplerian accretion discs orbiting Kerr superspinars predicted by the string theory. The superspinar exterior is described by the standard Kerr naked singularity geometry breaking the…
We consider photon emission from a supercritical accretion disk in which photons in the inner regions are trapped and advected in towards the center. Such disks are believed to be present in failed supernovae and gamma-ray bursts, and…
We propose that relative variability on short time-scales of the multiple images of a lensed quasar, after removal of the time delay, may be caused by hot spots or other moving structures in the accretion disk crossing microlens caustics…
We present observational evidence supporting the presence of a stratified accretion disk wind in active galactic nuclei (AGN), based on multi-wavelength spectroscopic analysis of broad and narrow emission lines. The diversity in emission…
Self-gravitating accretion disks collapse to star-forming(SF) regions extending to the inner edge of the dusty torus in active galactic nuclei (AGNs). A full set of equations including feedback of star formation is given to describe the…
Accretion discs are present around both stellar-mass black holes in X-ray binaries and supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei. A wide variety of circumstantial evidence implies that many of these discs are warped. The standard…
Recent simulations of merging black holes with spin give recoil velocities from gravitational radiation up to several thousand km/s. A recoiling supermassive black hole can retain the inner part of its accretion disk, providing fuel for a…