Related papers: Quantifying Rapid Variability in Accreting Compact…
Numerical simulations of MHD accretion flows in the vicinity of a supermasssive black hole provide important insights to the problem of why and how systems -- such as the Galactic Center -- are underluminous and variable. To access…
We calculate upper bounds on the inner radii of geometrically thin accretion disks in galactic black-hole systems by relating their rapid variability properties to those of neutron stars. We infer that the inner disk radii do not exhibit…
The high time resolution and large area of the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer have been essential in the detection and characterization of high-frequency quasi-periodic variability in the flux from neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries. An…
Astrometry - the precise measurement of celestial positions and motions - is entering the micro-arcsecond ($\mu$as) era at multiple wavelengths, enabling new insights on compact objects across all mass scales. Here we review how…
A jet model for Galactic black-hole X-ray binaries will be presented that appears to explain several observational characteristics. In particular, it explains the energy spectrum from radio to hard X-rays, the time-lags as a function of…
Variability studies represent a powerful tool to assess the emission mechanism(s) at work in the quiescent state of transient low mass X-ray binaries. Here we report on Chandra and XMM-Newton observations of two well known transient…
Microcalorimeters have demonstrated success in delivering high spectral resolution, and have paved the path to revolutionary new science possibilities in the coming decade of X-ray astronomy. There are several research areas in compact…
Fast variability studies of accreting black holes in the Galaxy offer us a unique opportunity to measure the spins of black holes and test the strong-field behavior of general relativity. In this review, I summarize the arguments often used…
We use Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer observations to conduct a population study of the timing properties of accretion-powered neutron star Low Mass X-ray Binaries (LMXBs), following a model-independent approach that was originally applied to…
Quantities characterizing temporal property, e.g. power density, coherence, and time lag, can be defined and calculated directly in the time domain without using the Fourier transformation. Spectral hardness, variability duration, and…
X-ray inter-band time lags are observed during the outbursts of black hole X-ray binaries (BHXRBs). Timing analysis of fast variability in low Fourier frequency bands shows that high-energy photons lag behind low-energy photons, a…
Diffuse scattering is a rich source of information about disorder in crystalline materials, which can be modelled using atomistic techniques such as Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations. Modern X-ray and neutron scattering…
This thesis details an effort to generate astrophysically interesting solutions to the two-body problem in General Relativity. The thesis consists of two main parts. The first part presents an analytical variational principle for describing…
Quasars emission is highly variable, and this variability gives us clues to understand the accretion process onto supermassive black holes. We can expect variability properties to correlate with the main physical properties of the accreting…
X-ray variability of accreting black hole binaries is believed to be produced by the fluctuations propagating towards the compact object. Observations suggest the light curves in different energy bands are connected, but the fluctuations at…
We study an empirical model for a unified description of the power spectra of accreting neutron stars and black holes. This description is based on a superposition of multiple Lorentzians and offers the advantage that all QPO and noise…
I review current models used to interpret the spectra and variability of microquasars. Among other things, I discuss the structure of the accretion flow and its dependence on mass accretion rate, the intrinsic connection between hot…
Correlations discovered between millisecond timing properties and spectral properties in neutron star x-ray binaries are described and then interpreted in relation to accretion flows in the systems. Use of joint timing and spectral…
We describe a new numerical algorithm for ray tracing in the external spacetimes of spinning compact objects characterized by arbitrary quadrupole moments. Such spacetimes describe non-Kerr vacuum solutions that can be used to test the…
I analyse the relativistic accretion phenomena around rotating black holes and neutron stars in pseudo-Newtonian approach and show both the kinds of disk can be treated in an unified manner. For this purpose, number of pseudo-Newtonian…