Related papers: The Iron Unresolved Transition Array in Active Gal…
Atomic data and plasma models play a crucial role in the diagnosis and interpretation of astrophysical spectra, thus influencing our understanding of the universe. In this investigation we present a systematic comparison of the leading…
In explaining the relative metal abundances observed in galaxy groups and clusters, it is generally assumed that all metals created by supernovae are present either in visible stars or the hot gas. We discuss here the possibility that some…
We present the X-ray analysis of the most luminous obscured active galactic nuclei (AGN) inside local ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs). Our sample consists of ten sources, harbouring AGN components with estimated luminosity in…
Approximately 3-17 percent of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) without detected rest-frame UV/optical broad emission lines (type-2 AGN) do not show absorption in X-rays. The physical origin behind the apparently discordant optical/X-ray…
Most Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are `obscured', i.e. the nucleus is hiding behind a screen of absorbing material. The advantage of having the nucleus obscured is to make easier the observations of those emission components which originate…
While iron emission lines are well studied in black hole systems, both in X-ray binaries and Active Galactic Nuclei, there has been less of a focus on these lines in neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). However, recent observations…
We present evidence for changes in the strength and profile of the iron K-alpha line in Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), based on X-ray observations with ASCA. There is a clear decrease in the strength of the line with increasing luminosity.…
X-ray observations of several active galactic nuclei show prominent iron K-shell fluorescence lines that are sculpted due to special and general relativistic effects. These observations are important because they probe the space-time…
We present an investigation of the X-ray absorption features predicted by hydrodynamic simulations of radio galaxies interacting with the intracluster medium (ICM) of their host galaxy clusters. We show how these absorption lines can be…
Non-thermal photo-ionized plasmas are now established in the laboratory, and require models that treat the atomic processes and electron distribution self-consistently. We investigate the effects of inelastic thermalization in iron under…
The active galactic nucleus (AGN) phenomena results from a supermassive black hole accreting its surrounding gaseous and dusty material. The infrared (IR) regime provides most of the information to characterize the dusty structures that…
We present He-like line ratios (resonance, intercombination and forbidden lines) for totally and partially photoionized media. For solar plasmas, these line ratios are already widely used for density and temperature diagnostics of coronal…
We present the first attempt to determine the iron abundance in hot central stars of planetary nebulae. We perform an analysis with fully metal-line blanketed NLTE model atmospheres for a sample of ten stars (T_eff >= 70.000 K) for which…
High-resolution tunable laser spectroscopy is used to measure time-resolved absorption spectra for ten neutral uranium transitions and six singly-ionized transitions in a laser produced plasma. Spectral lineshapes are analyzed to determine…
By revisiting the Suzaku and XMM-Newton data of the North Polar Spur, we discovered that the spectra are inconsistent with the traditional model consisting of pure thermal emission and neutral absorption. The most prominent discrepancies…
Accretion disk winds are thought to produce many of the characteristic features seen in the spectra of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and quasi-stellar objects (QSOs). These outflows also represent a natural form of feedback between the…
We present the analysis of four NuSTAR observations of the luminous infrared galaxy merger NGC 6240, hosting a close pair of highly obscured active galactic nuclei (AGN). Over a period of about two years, the source exhibits hard X-ray…
We present a uniform X-ray spectral analysis of eight type-1 active galactic nuclei (AGN) that have been previously observed with relativistically broadened iron emission lines. Utilizing data from the XMM-Newton European Photon Imaging…
Significant variability in broad emission line strengths of active galactic nuclei (AGN) over months to years has been observed, often accompanied by intrinsic continuum changes. Such spectral variability challenges the traditional AGN…
Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are complex phenomena. At the heart of an AGN is a relativistic accretion disk around a spinning supermassive black hole (SMBH) with an X-ray emitting corona and, sometimes, a relativistic jet. On larger scales,…