Related papers: High-Energy Spectral Complexity from Thermal Gradi…
The hard X-ray spectra of accreting black holes systems are generally well-fit by thermal Comptonization models with temperatures $\sim 100$ keV. We demonstrate why, over many orders of magnitude in heating rate and seed photon supply, hot…
Data derived from general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of accretion onto black holes can be used as input to a postprocessing scheme that predicts the radiated spectrum. Combining a relativistic Compton scattering radiation…
Observed spectra of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and luminous X-ray binaries in our Galaxy suggest that both hot (~10^9 K) and cold (~10^6 K) plasma components exist close to the central accreting black hole. Hard X-ray component of the…
We review observations and theoretical models of X-ray/gamma-ray spectra of radio-quiet Seyfert galaxies and of Galactic black-hole candidates (in the hard spectral state). The observed spectra share all their basic components: an…
We present the results of a new global radiation transport code coupled to a general relativistic magneto-hydrodynamic simulation of an accreting, non-rotating black hole. For the first time, we are able to explain from first principles in…
We consider stochastic particle acceleration in plasmas around stellar mass black holes to explain the emissions above 1 MeV from Galactic black hole candidates. We show that for certain parameter regimes, electrons can overcome Coulomb…
Accreting black holes show a complex and diverse behaviour in their soft spectral states. Although these spectra are dominated by a soft, thermal component which almost certainly arises from an accretion disc, there is also a hard X-ray…
We study Compton upscattering of low-frequency photons in a converging flow of thermal plasma. The photons escape diffusively and electron scattering is the dominant source of opacity. We solve numerically and approximately analytically the…
Most accreting black holes emit a substantial fraction of their luminosity in hard X-rays/soft $\gamma$-rays of up to $\sim{\rm few}\times100$ keV. The observations suggest that the radiating gas is very hot, $T>10^9$ K, and optically thin.…
The origin of dramatically different electron distributions responsible for Comptonization in black hole X-ray binaries (BHBs) in their various states is discussed. We solve the coupled kinetic equations for photons and electrons without…
Selected topics dealing with X-ray/soft gamma-ray emission from accreting black-hole sources are reviewed. The shape of soft gamma-ray spectra of Seyferts observed by OSSE can be well modelled by thermal Comptonization. A very strong…
X-ray continuum spectra of super-Eddington accretion flow are studied by means of Monte Carlo radiative transfer simulations based on the radiation hydrodynamic simulation data, in which both of thermal and bulk Compton scatterings are…
Most black hole candidates exhibit characteristic power-law like hard X-ray emission above $\sim$ 10 keV. In the {\em high state}, in which 2 -- 10 keV luminosity is relatively high, the energy index of the hard X-ray emission is usually…
Accreting black holes in galactic X-ray sources are surrounded by hot plasma. The innermost part of these systems is likely a corona with different temperatures for ions and electrons. In the so-called low-hard state, hot electrons…
A phenomenological model of X-ray variability of accreting black holes is considered, where the variable emission is attributed to multiple active regions/perturbations moving radially towards the central black hole. The hard X-rays are…
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…
Studies of the long-term spectral variations have been used to constrain the emission processes of black hole candidates. However, a common scenario which is able to explain the emission from soft to hard X-rays has been proposed only…
Some ultraluminous X-ray sources in nearby galaxies show soft components resembling thermal disc emission. Calculations based on blackbody emission then indicate that the accreting black holes at the centres of these discs have masses of…
In the inner regions of an accretion disk around a black hole, relativistic protons can interact with ambient matter to produce electrons, positrons and $\gamma$-rays. The resultant steady state electron and positron particle distributions…
Hard X-ray spectra of black hole binaries in the low/hard state are well modeled by thermal Comptonization of soft seed photons by a corona-type region with $kT$\thinspace$\sim 50${\thinspace}keV and optical depth around 1. Previous…