Related papers: Black hole spin in GRS 1915+105

The spins of ten stellar black holes have been measured using the continuum-fitting method. These black holes are located in two distinct classes of X-ray binary systems, one that is persistently X-ray bright and another that is transient.…

Here we report a measurement of the orbital period and mass function of GRS 1915+105 which allow us to deduce a mass of 14 +- 4 solar masses for its black hole. This large mass provides a challenge for black hole formation scenarios in…

(abridged) In this paper we extend the idea suggested previously by Petri (2005a,b) that the high frequency quasi-periodic oscillations observed in low-mass X-ray binaries may be explained as a resonant oscillation of the accretion disk…

Accretion of gas onto a central supermassive black hole is generally accepted to be the source of the emitted energy in active galactic nuclei.The broad emission lines we observe in their optical spectra are probably formed in the wind of…

Black hole accretion is one of nature's most efficient energy extraction processes. When gas falls in, a significant fraction of its gravitational binding energy is either converted into radiation or flows outwards in the form of black…

Black holes (BH), one of the most intriguing objects in the universe, can manifest themselves through electromagnetic radiation initiated by the accretion flow. Some stellar-mass BHs drive relativistic jets when accreting matter from their…

We estimate the black hole spin parameter in GRS 1915+105 using the continuum-fitting method with revised mass and inclination constraints based on the very long baseline interferometric parallax measurement of the distance to this source.…

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…

New long-term Very Long Baseline Array observations of the well-known jet in the M87 radio galaxy at 43 GHz show that the jet experiences a sideways shift with an approximately 8-10 yr quasi-periodicity. Such jet wobbling can be indicative…

Radio imaging of the microquasar GRS 1915+105 with the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) during various flaring, quiescent, or oscillatory states of the black hole binary, always resolves the nucleus as a compact jet of length about…

The spin of supermassive black holes could power jets from active galactic nuclei (AGN), although direct observational evidence for this conjecture is sparse. The accretion disk luminosity and jet power, on the other hand, have long been…

Black hole X-ray binaries (BHXRBs) play a crucial role in understanding the accretion of matter onto a black hole. Here, we focus on exploring the transient BHXRB \source~discovered by Swift/BAT and MAXI/GSC during its January 2019…

I summarize recent near-infrared spectroscopy of the microquasar GRS 1915+105 with the ESO/VLT which allowed to (i) identify the donor and (ii) measure the orbital period and radial velocity amplitude. Assuming that the jet ejections occur…

We study a novel electromagnetic signature of supermassive black hole binaries whose inspiral starts being dominated by gravitational wave (GW) emission. Recent simulations suggest that the binary's member BHs can continue to accrete gas…

X-ray irradiation of the accretion disc leads to strong reflection features, which are then broadened and distorted by relativistic effects. We present a detailed, general relativistic approach to model this irradiation for different…

We present a new dynamical study of the black hole X-ray transient GRS1915+105 making use of near-infrared spectroscopy obtained with X-shooter at the VLT. We detect a large number of donor star absorption features across a wide range of…

The characteristic properties of blazars (rapid variability, strong polarization, high brightness) are widely attributed to a powerful relativistic jet oriented close to our line of sight. Despite the spectral energy distributions (SEDs)…

Black holes are the simplest possible objects, characterised by only mass and spin. We see them via accretion, so there is one more fundamental parameter which is the mass accretion rate. Here I will review how the data from both stellar…

I review the progress made on the physics of relativistic jets from black hole systems in the context of the analogy between AGN and microquasars that was proposed one decade ago. If the emerging empirical correlations between the…

I present an overview of past, present and future research on microquasars and jets, showing that microquasars, i.e. galactic jet sources, are among the best laboratories for high energy phenomena and astroparticle physics. After reminding…