Related papers: The Spectral States of Black Hole X-ray Binary Sou…
Accreting black holes radiate in one of several spectral states, switching from one to another for reasons that are as yet not understood. Using the best studied example, Cyg X-1, we identify the geometry and physical conditions…
In the absence of direct kinematic measurements, the mass of an accreting black hole is sometimes inferred from the X-ray spectral parameters of its accretion disk; specifically, from the temperature and normalization of a disk-blackbody…
A new accretion picture based on a small disk surrounding a black hole is developed for the wind-fed source Cyg X-1. The hard and soft spectral states of Cyg X-1 are interpreted in terms of co-spatial two component flows for the innermost…
At luminosities below a few percent of Eddington, accreting black holes switch to a hard spectral state which is very different from the soft blackbody-like spectral state that is found at higher luminosities. The hard state is…
It has been found that a class of optically-thin two-temperature advection-dominated accretion solutions explains many observations of low-luminosity accreting black holes. Here it is shown that these models give a satisfactory description…
We explore the evolution in power of black holes of all masses, and their associated jets, within the scheme of an accretion rate-dependent state transition. Below a critical value of the accretion rate all systems are assumed to undergo a…
We review the properties and behavior X-ray binaries that contain an accreting black hole. The larger majority of such systems are X-ray transients, and many of them were observed in daily pointings with RXTE throughout the course of their…
The theory of coronal evaporation predicts the formation of an inner hole in the cool thin accretion disk for mass accretion rates below a certain value (~ 1/50 of the Eddington mass accretion rate) and the sudden disappearance of this hole…
We review the current understanding of accretion flows around compact objects with a special emphasis on advective disks. We discuss the influence of the centrifugal pressure supported high density region around compact objects (where…
Most of the luminosity of accreting black hole is emitted in the X-ray band. This radiation is believed to emerge, through inverse Compton process, from a hot (Te ~ 10^8 -10^9 K) optically thin (Thomson optical depth ~ 1) plasma probably…
The dramatic changes seen in the X-ray spectral and timing properties of accreting black hole candidates (BHCs) provide important clues about the accretion and jet formation processes that occur in these systems. Dividing the different…
We present a self-consistent model of accretion flows which unifies four distinct spectral states observed in black hole X-ray binaries: quiescent, low, intermediate and high states. In the quiescent, low and intermediate states, the flow…
Black hole binary transients undergo dramatic evolution in their X-ray timing and spectral behaviour during outbursts. In recent years a paradigm has arisen in which "soft" X-ray states are associated with an inner disc radius at, or very…
The complex spectral and timing properties of the high-energy emission from the accretion flow in black-hole binaries, together with their strong connection to the ejection of powerful relativistic jets from the system, can be simplified…
We summarize indirect empirical arguments used for estimating black hole (BH) masses in ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs). The interpretation of the X-ray data is still too model-dependent to provide tight constraints, but masses <~ 100…
It is commonly believed that accretion discs are truncated and their inner regions are described by advection dominated accretion flows (ADAFs) in the hard spectral state of black hole X-ray binaries. However, the increasing occurrence of a…
The three X-ray states of active accretion in black-hole binaries have been re-defined to focus attention on different physical elements that may contribute radiation: the accretion disk, a jet, and a compact and radio-quiet corona.…
The X-ray spectra of accreting stellar-mass black hole systems exhibit spectral features due to reflection, especially broad iron K alpha emission lines. We investigate the reflection by the accretion disc that can be expected in the…
The formation of a cool disk in the innermost regions of black hole X-ray transient systems in the low hard state is investigated. Taking into account the combined cooling associated with the Compton and conductive energy transport…
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…