Related papers: Thermal and Bulk Comptonization in Accretion-Power…
The results of a spectral analysis, using {\it XMM-Newton} and {\it Chandra} data of the brightest ultra luminous X-ray source in the nearby galaxy M82, are presented. The spectrum of M82 X-1, was found to be unusually hard (photon spectral…
Bulk velocities exceed thermal velocities for sufficiently radiation pressure dominated accretion flows. We model the contribution of bulk Comptonization to the soft X-ray excess in AGN. Bulk Comptonization is due to both turbulence and the…
We develop a Monte-Carlo code to compute the Compton scattered X-ray flux arising from a hot inner flow which undergoes Lense-Thirring precession. The hot flow intercepts seed photons from an outer truncated thin disk. A fraction of the…
We present numerical spectral and vertical structure calculations appropriate for near-Eddington-luminosity, radiation-pressure-dominated accretion disks around stellar-mass black holes. We cover a wide range of black hole spins and…
We propose a theoretical model to explain the spectrum of the quasar PG1211+143 emitted in the Optical/X-ray bands. In particular, we suggest that the inner accretion disk may develop a warm, optically thick skin, which produces a profound…
X-ray spectroscopy offers an opportunity to study the complex mixture of emitting and absorbing components in the circumnuclear regions of active galactic nuclei, and to learn about the accretion process that fuels AGN and the feedback of…
X-ray binaries (XRBs) often exhibit a high energy power-law tail (HEP-tail) and these tails can be generated by the bulk Comptonization (BMC) process with a free-fall bulk region onto the compact object. The radio emission (which is…
Quasi-thermal Comptonization in internal shocks formed between relativistic shells can account for the high energy emission of gamma-ray bursts. This is in fact the dominant cooling mechanism if the typical energy of the emitting particles…
We present new calculations of X-ray polarization from accreting black holes (BHs), using a Monte-Carlo ray-tracing code in full general relativity. In our model, an optically thick disk in the BH equatorial plane produces thermal seed…
We discuss a model of an X-ray illuminating source above an accretion disk of a rotating black hole. Within the so called lamp-post scheme we compute the expected (observed) polarization properties of the radiation reaching an observer. We…
We have undertaken an extensive study of X-ray data from the accreting millisecond pulsar XTE J1751-305 observed by RXTE and XMM-Newton during its 2002 outburst. In all aspects this source is similar to a prototypical millisecond pulsar SAX…
We extend our models of the vertical structure and emergent radiation field of accretion disks around supermassive black holes described in previous papers of this series. Our models now include both a self-consistent treatment of Compton…
A great deal of emphasis on timing in the RXTE era has been on pushing toward higher and higher frequency phenomena, particularly kHz QPOs. However, the large areas of the RXTE pointed instruments provide another capability which is key for…
We have constructed models of quasi-periodic variability of X-ray emission from accreting compact objects. Assuming a general scenario of a propagation model of variability, with inverse Compton upscatering as the emission mechanism, we…
From hot, tenuous gas dominated by Compton processes, to warm, photoionized emission-line regions, to cold, optically thick fluorescing matter, accreting gas flows in X-ray binaries span a huge portion of the parameter space accessible to…
High-energy data of accreting white dwarfs give access to the regime of the primary accretion-induced energy release and the different proposed accretion scenarios. We perform XMM-Newton observations of polars selected due to their ROSAT…
Cyclotron resonance scattering features are observed in the spectra of some X-ray pulsars and show significant changes in the line energy with the pulsar luminosity. In a case of bright sources, the line centroid energy is anti-correlated…
The emission from galactic black holes and Seyfert galaxies is generally understood in term of two-phase models (Haardt and Maraschi 1991, 1993). Such models postulate that a hot plasma coexists with relatively colder material in the inner…
The X-ray and near-IR emission from Sgr A* is dominated by flaring, while a quiescent component dominates the emission at radio and sub-mm wavelengths. The spectral energy distribution of the quiescent emission from Sgr A* peaks at sub-mm…
Black hole and neutron star accretion flows display unusually high levels of hard coronal emission in comparison to all other optically thick, gravitationally bound, turbulent astrophysical systems. Since these flows sit in deep…