Related papers: Accretion Disk Models
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…
We describe hot, optically-thin solutions for one-temperature accretion disks around black holes. We include cooling by synchrotron, bremsstrahlung, and Comptonization. Our solutions are thermally and viscously stable, with gas temperatures…
We provide a unified description of thermal equilibria of black hole accretion disks, including the newly-discovered advection-dominated solutions. We classify the solutions on the basis of optical depth and importance of advection cooling.…
Standard accretion disk theory (Shakura & Sunyaev 1973) predicts that the total pressure in disks at typical (sub-)Eddington accretion rates becomes radiation pressure dominated. However, radiation pressure dominated disks are thermally…
Relativistic reflection features are commonly observed in the X-ray spectra of stellar-mass and supermassive black holes and originate from illumination of the inner part of the accretion disk by a hot corona. All the available relativistic…
The possibility that some of the observed X-ray and optical variability in active galactic nuclei and galactic black hole candidates is produced in accretion disks through the development of a self-organized critical state is reconsidered.…
Current astrophysical research suggests that the most persistently luminous objects in the Universe are powered by the flow of matter through accretion disks onto black holes. Accretion disk systems are observed to emit copious radiation…
We discuss the expected X-ray spectral and variability properties of black hole accretion discs at high luminosity, under the hypothesis that radiation pressure dominated discs are subject to violent clumping instabilities and, as a result,…
Reflection of X-rays from cool material around a black hole is one of the few observational diagnostics of the accretion flow geometry. Models of this reflected spectrum generally assume that the accretion disk can be characterized by…
Modeling the radiation generated by accreting matter is an important step towards realistic simulations of black hole accretion disks, especially at high accretion rates. To this end, we have recently added radiation transport to the…
We review models which include advective accretion disks onto compact objects and discuss the influence of the centrifugal pressure supported high density region close to the compact objects on the emitted spectra. We show that the…
Blurred reflection features are commonly observed in the X-ray spectra of accreting black holes. In the presence of high-quality data and with the correct astrophysical model, X-ray reflection spectroscopy is a powerful tool to probe the…
We review some of the interesting consequences that tilts, warps, and eccentricities can introduce into the dynamics, thermodynamics, and observational appearance of accreting systems, with an emphasis on disks around black holes and…
QSO emission-line spectra are compared to predictions based on theoretical ionizing continua of accretion disks. Observed line intensities do not show the expected trend of higher ionization with higher accretion disk temperature as derived…
Observations of black hole X-ray binaries and active galactic nuclei indicate that the accretion flows around black holes are composed of hot and cold gas, which have been theoretically described in terms of either a hot geometrically thick…
Relativistic reflection features are commonly observed in the X-ray spectra of accreting black holes. In the presence of high quality data and with the correct astrophysical model, X-ray reflection spectroscopy can be quite a powerful tool…
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…
As described in the review by Marek Abramowicz (these proceedings), accretion theory is at something of a crossroads. Many theoretical descriptions of observations have centered on the ``hydrodynamic'' approach of the ``standard'' Shakura &…
We model non-thermal emission spectrum of the extremely sub-Eddington X-ray binary system A0620-00. It is believed that this non-thermal emission is produced by a radiatively inefficient "quiescent" accretion onto a stellar-mass black hole…
Black hole X-ray binaries are ideal environments to study the accretion phenomena in strong gravitational potentials. These systems undergo dramatic accretion state transitions and analysis of the X-ray spectra is used to probe the…