Related papers: Low radiative efficiency accretion in the nuclei o…
We report the detection of hard X-ray emission components in the spectra of six nearby, giant elliptical galaxies observed with the ASCA satellite. The systems studied, which exhibit strong dynamical evidence for supermassive black holes in…
Most large elliptical galaxies should now host a massive black hole leftover from an earlier quasar phase. Such galaxies also have an extensive hot gaseous halo. Here we consider why the nuclei of elliptical galaxies are not luminous…
We present X-ray observations of nine Weak-Line Radio Galaxies (WLRGs), optically classified as confirmed or possible Low Ionization Nuclear Emission-line Regions (LINERs). The data were taken from the Chandra, XMM, and BeppoSax archives.…
The radio emission from supermassive black holes in nearby early-type galaxies can be used to test possible explanations for their low luminosities. We calculate the expected contribution from thermal synchrotron emission from hot accretion…
We explore the implications of the discovery of hard, power-law X-ray sources in the spectra of nearby elliptical galaxies for the origin of the X-ray background. The spectra of these sources are consistent with models of thermal…
We use new central stellar velocity dispersions and nuclear X-ray and Halpha luminosities for the Palomar survey of nearby galaxies to investigate the distribution of nuclear bolometric luminosities and Eddington ratios for their central…
We quantitatively scrutinize the effects of the radiation drag arising from the radiation fields in a galactic bulge in order to examine the possibility that the radiation drag could be an effective mechanism to extract angular momentum in…
We investigate radiatively inefficient accretion flow models for Sgr A*, the supermassive black hole in our Galactic Center, in light of new observational constraints. Confirmation of linear polarization in the submm emission argues for…
We examine unresolved nuclear X-ray sources in 57 brightest cluster galaxies to study the relationship between nuclear X-ray emission and accretion onto supermassive black holes (SMBHs). The majority of the clusters in our sample have…
We present results from Chandra and XMM-Newton spectroscopic observations of the nuclei of z<0.5 radio galaxies and quasars from the 3CRR catalog, and examine in detail the dichotomy in the properties of low- and high-excitation radio…
We study a sample of 44 low-luminosity radio-loud AGN, which represent a range of nuclear radio-power spanning 5 orders of magnitude, to unveil the accretion mechanism in these galaxies. We estimate the accretion rate of gas associated with…
Variable X-ray absorption has been observed in active galactic nuclei (AGN) on several time scales. Observations allow us to identify the absorber with clouds associated either with the clumpy torus (parsec scales, long timescales) or with…
A recent joint XMM-Newton/Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) observation of the accreting neutron star Cen X-4 ($L_{\rm X}\sim10^{33}{\rm~erg~s}^{-1}$) revealed a hard power-law component ($\Gamma\sim1$-$1.5$) with a relatively…
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…
Observations of active galactic nuclei have revealed a correlation between millimeter luminosity, X-ray luminosity, and mass, suggesting the emission in each of these bands is powered by a common source. Starting with a set of five general…
Chandra observations of low-luminosity supermassive black holes in nearby elliptical galaxies provide tight limits on both their nuclear luminosities and on their Bondi accretion rates. We examine Chandra constraints on NGC 6166, the…
A common model invoked to describe the X-ray spectra of active galaxies includes a relativistically blurred reflection component, which in some cases can be the dominant contributor to the received flux. Alternative interpretations are…
We have studied the X-ray nuclear activity of 187 nearby (distance < 15 Mpc) galaxies observed with Chandra/ACIS. We found that 86 of them have a point-like X-ray core, consistent with an accreting black hole (BH). We argue that the…
The origins of X-ray and radio emissions during an X-ray binary outburst are comparatively better understood than those of ultraviolet, optical and infrared radiation. This is because multiple competing mechanisms peak in these mid-energy…
The centers of elliptical galaxies host supermassive black holes that significantly affect the surrounding interstellar medium through feedback resulting from the accretion process. The evolution of this gas and of the nuclear emission…