Related papers: DIM light on Black Hole X-ray Transients
This study focuses on the X-ray emission of low-mass black hole binaries in massive Brans-Dicke gravity. First, we compute the accretion disk adopting the well-known Shakura-Sunyaev model for an optically thick, cool, and geometrically thin…
We describe a program that we have embarked on to estimate the spins of stellar-mass black holes in X-ray binaries. We fit the continuum X-ray spectrum of the radiation from the accretion disk using the standard thin disk model, and extract…
We model the intermediate-mass black hole HLX-1, using the Hubble Space Telescope, XMM-Newton and Swift. We quantify the relative contributions of a bluer component, function of X-ray irradiation, and a redder component, constant and likely…
We develop a new technique to equip models of spiral galaxies with self-consistent dynamics that match observations. We apply our technique and construct a model for the Milky Way with a dynamical interstellar medium (ISM). In simulations a…
We present a new picture for the central regions of Black Hole X-ray Binaries. In our view, these central regions have a multi-flow configuration which consists in (1) an outer standard accretion disc down to a transition radius r_J, (2) an…
In this chapter, I present a summary of observational tests of the basic picture of disk accretion. An emphasis is placed on tests relevant to black holes, but many of the fundamental results are drawn from studies of other classes of…
Be X-ray binaries are among the best known transient high-energy sources. Their outbursts are commonly classified into a simple scheme of 'normal' and 'giant' outbursts, but a closer look shows that actual outbursts do not always follow…
The time-dependent Comptonized output of a cool soft X-ray source drifting inward through an inhomogeneous hot inner disk or corona is numerically simulated. We propose that this scenario can explain from first principles the observed…
The properties of the aperiodic variability in X-ray binaries with black holes are considered. The power spectra of the luminosity variability for a flat accretion disk that is an emission source with a power-law energy spectrum have been…
Hard X-ray emission is ubiquitous in accreting black holes, both in Galactic binary systems and in Active Galactic Nuclei. I review the different spectra which can be seen from these systems, and possible ways of producing this emission.…
Type I X-ray bursts are very common in neutron star X-ray binaries, but no Type I burst has been seen in the dozen or so binaries in which the accreting compact star is too massive to be a neutron star and therefore is identified as a black…
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…
We describe the first complete polarimetric dataset of the entire outburst of a low-mass black hole X-ray binary system and discuss the constraints for geometry and radiative mechanisms it imposes. During the decaying hard state, when the…
Self-consistent vertical structure models together with non-LTE radiative transfer should produce spectra from accretion disks around black holes which differ from multitemperature blackbodies at levels which may be observed. High…
Cosmological GRBs are discussed with an emphasis on their plausible connection with black holes. GRBs can be triggered by collapse of stellar-mass objects that leads to formation of a black hole and a transient debris disk with a huge…
We analyze the mass distribution of stellar black holes derived from the light and radial velocity curves of optical stars in close binary systems using dynamical methods. The systematic errors inherent in this approach are discussed. These…
The properties of X-ray emission from accreting black holes are reviewed. The contemporary observational picture and current status of theoretical understanding of accretion and formation of X-ray radiation in the vicinity of the compact…
The models that seek to explain the reflection spectrum in black hole binaries usually invoke a point-like primary source of hard X-rays. This source illuminates the accretion disk and gives rise to the discrete (lines) and…
We propose the new scenario for X-ray outbursts in Be/X-ray binaries that normal and giant outbursts are respectively caused by radiatively inefficient accretion flows (RIAFs) and Bondi-Hoyle-Lyttleton (BHL) accretion of the material…
We discuss the evolution of black hole transients on the basis of a few systems that were intensively observed with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. We focus on the global evolution and the observed state transitions. Rather than giving a…