Related papers: Concave Accretion Discs and X-ray Reprocessing
Spin parameters of stellar-mass black holes in X-ray binaries are currently being estimated by fitting the X-ray continuum spectra of their accretion disk emission. For this method, it is necessary to know the inclination of the…
We use the full broad-band XMM-Newton EPIC data to examine the X-ray spectrum of the nearby Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1068, previously shown to be complex with the X-ray continuum being a sum of components reflected/scattered from cold (neutral)…
Study of astrophysics of black holes and neutron stars has taken a new turn in the present decade with the realization that sub-Keplerian flows and the associated centrifugal barrier near the horizon or the surface of a neutron star play a…
The observed iron K-alpha fluorescence lines in Seyfert galaxies provide strong evidence for an accretion disk near a supermassive black hole as a source of the line emission. Previous studies of line emission have considered only…
When a macroscopic-sized non-crystalline sample is illuminated using coherent x-ray radiation, a bifurcation of photon energy flow may occur. The coarse-grained complex refractive index of the sample may be considered to attenuate and…
We present angle-dependent, broad-band intensity spectra from accretion disks around black holes of 10 M$_\odot$. In our computations disks are assumed to be slim, which means that the radial advection is taken into account while computing…
We investigate the dependence of the viewing angle in supercritical accretion flows and discuss the observational implications of galactic black-hole candidates and ultraluminous X-ray sources. When the mass accretion rate exceeds the…
We report results from a systematic study of X-ray emission from black hole transients in quiescence. In this state mass accretion is thought to follow the geometry of an outer optically thick, geometrically thin disc and an inner optically…
The fluorescent iron Ka line is a powerful observational probe of the inner regions of black holes accretion disks. Previous studies have assumed that only material outside the radius of marginal stability can contribute to the observed…
Observations of Galactic black hole sources are traditionally done in the classical X-ray range (2 -- 10 keV) due to sensitivity constraints. Most of the accretion power, however, is radiated above 10 keV and the study of these sources in…
We selected a sample of eight bright unobscured (at least at the iron line energy) Seyfert Galaxies observed simultaneously by XMM-Newton and BeppoSAX, taking advantage of the complementary characteristics of the two missions. The main…
X-ray reverberation echoes are assumed to be produced in the strongly distorted spacetime around accreting supermassive black holes. This signal allows us to spatially map the geometry of the inner accretion flow - a region which cannot yet…
We present detailed scattering models confirming that distinctive variations in polarization across the broad Halpha line, which are observed in a significant fraction of Seyfert 1 galaxies, can be understood in terms of a rotating…
The relativistically broad X-ray iron line seen in many AGN spectra is thought to originate from the central regions of the putative black hole accretion disk. Both the line profile and strength will vary in response to rapid variability of…
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…
We examine the properties of the Fe emission lines that arise near 6.4 keV in the ASCA spectra of AGN. Our emphasis is on the Seyfert 1 galaxies where broad and apparently complex Fe K alpha emission is observed. We consider various origins…
We present results from modeling of quasi-simultaneous broad band (radio through X-ray) observations of the galactic stellar black hole (BH) transient X-ray binary (XRB) systems XTE J1118+480 and GX 339-4 using an irradiated disc + compact…
Returning radiation is thought to play a key role in disk illumination of black hole X-ray binaries in the high-soft state, yet it has not been fully incorporated into XSPEC reflection models. We present a new table model for reflection…
The accretion-ejection activities of black holes play a vital role in shaping the Universe. Bright and recurrent black hole X-ray binaries are ideal objects for studying accretion physics across a wide range of accretion rates, providing…
We present a simple analytical formula for the Thomson depth of the X-ray heated skin of accretion disks valid at any radius and for a broad range of spectral indices of the incident X-rays, accretion rates and black hole masses. We expect…