Modelling spectral and timing properties of accreting black holes: the hybrid hot flow paradigm

The general picture that emerged by the end of 1990s from a large set of optical and X-ray, spectral and timing data was that the X-rays are produced in the innermost hot part of the accretion flow, while the optical/infrared (OIR) emission is mainly produced by the irradiated outer thin accretion disc. Recent multiwavelength observations of Galactic black hole transients show that the situation is not so simple. Fast variability in the OIR band, OIR excesses above the thermal emission and a complicated interplay between the X-ray and the OIR light curves imply that the OIR emitting region is much more compact. One of the popular hypotheses is that the jet contributes to the OIR emission and even is responsible for the bulk of the X-rays. However, this scenario is largely ad hoc and is in contradiction with many previously established facts. Alternatively, the hot accretion flow, known to be consistent with the X-ray spectral and timing data, is also a viable candidate to produce the OIR radiation. The hot-flow scenario naturally explains the power-law like OIR spectra, fast OIR variability and its complex relation to the X-rays if the hot flow contains non-thermal electrons (even in energetically negligible quantities), which are required by the presence of the MeV tail in Cyg X-1. The presence of non-thermal electrons also lowers the equilibrium electron temperature in the hot flow model to <100 keV, making it more consistent with observations. Here we argue that any viable model should simultaneously explain a large set of spectral and timing data and show that the hybrid (thermal/non-thermal) hot flow model satisfies most of the constraints.Comment: 26 pages, 13 figures. To be published in the Space Science Reviews and as hard cover in the Space Sciences Series of ISSI - The Physics of Accretion on to Black Holes (Springer Publisher

XMM-Newton observations of 3C 273

A series of nine XMM–Newton observations of the radio-loud quasar 3C 273 are presented, concentrating mainly on the soft excess. Although most of the individual observations do not show evidence for iron emission, co-adding them reveals a weak, broad line (EW ∼56 eV). The soft excess component is found to vary, confirming previous work, and can be well fitted with multiple blackbody components, with temperatures ranging between ∼40 and ∼330 eV, together with a power law. Alternatively, a Comptonization model also provides a good fit, with a mean electron temperature of ∼350 eV, although this value is higher when the soft excess is more luminous over the 0.5–10 keV energy band. In the reflection grating spectrometer spectrum of 3C 273, a strong detection of the O vii Heα absorption line at zero redshift is made; this may originate in warm gas in the local intergalactic medium, consistent with the findings of both Fang, Sembach & Canizares and Rasmussen, Kahn & Paerels

A deep X-ray view of the bare AGN Ark 120. V. Spin determination from disc-Comptonisation efficiency method

Context. The spin of supermassive black holes (SMBH) in active galactic nuclei (AGN) can be determined from spectral signature(s) of relativistic reflection such as the X-ray iron Kα line profile, but this can be rather uncertain when the line of sight intersects the so-called warm absorber and/or other wind components as these distort the continuum shape. Therefore, AGN showing no (or very weak) intrinsic absorption along the line-of-sight such as Ark 120, a so-called bare AGN, are the ideal targets for SMBH spin measurements. However, in our previous work on Ark 120, we found that its 2014 X-ray spectrum is dominated by Comptonisation, while the relativistic reflection emission only originates at tens of gravitational radii from the SMBH. As a result, we could not constrain the SMBH spin from disc reflection alone. Aims. Our aim is to determine the SMBH spin in Ark 120 from an alternative technique based on the global energetics of the disc-corona system. Indeed, the mass accretion rate (Ṁ) through the outer disc can be measured from the optical-UV emission, while the bolometric luminosity (Lbol) can be fairly well constrained from the optical to hard X-rays spectral energy distribution, giving access to the accretion efficiency η = Lbol/(Ṁc2) which depends on the SMBH spin. Methods. The spectral analysis uses simultaneous XMM-Newton (OM and pn) and NuSTAR observations on 2014 March 22 and 2013 February 18. We applied the OPTXCONV model (based on OPTXAGNF) to self consistently reproduce the emission from the inner corona (warm and hot thermal Comptonisation) and the outer disc (colour temperature corrected black body), taking into account both the disc inclination angle and relativistic effects. For self-consistency, we modelled the mild relativistic reflection of the incident Comptonisation components using the XILCONV convolution model. Results. We infer a SMBH spin of 0.83+0.05−0.03, adopting the SMBH reverberation mass of 1.50 × 108 M⊙. In addition, we find that the coronal radius decreases with increasing flux (by about a factor of two), from 85+13−10Rg in 2013 to 14 ± 3 Rg in 2014. Conclusions. This is the first time that such a constraint is obtained for a SMBH spin from this technique, thanks to the bare properties of Ark 120, its well determined SMBH reverberation mass, and the presence of a mild relativistic reflection component in 2014 which allows us to constrain the disc inclination angle. We caution that these results depend on the detailed disc-corona structure, which is not yet fully established. However, the realistic parameter values (e.g. Lbol/LEdd, disc inclination angle) found suggest that this is a promising method to determine spin in moderate-Ṁ AGN

Observation of diffractive J/psi production at the Fermilab Tevatron

We report the first observation of diffractive J/psi(→ mu (+)mu (-)) production in [(p)power bar] collisions at roots = 1.8 TeV. Diffractive events are identified by their rapidity gap signature. In a sample of events with two muons of transverse momentum p(T)(mu) gt 2 GeV/c within the pseudorapidity region \ eta \ lt 1.0, the ratio of diffractive to total J/[psi] production rates is found to be R-J/psi = [1.45 +/- 0.25]%. ne ratio R-J/psi(X) is presented as a function of x-Bjorken. By combining it with our previously measured corresponding ratio R-jj(x) for diffractive dijet production, we extract a value of 0.59 +/- 0.15 for the gluon fraction of the diffractive structure function of the proton

Searches for new physics in events with a photon and b-quark jet at CDF

We have searched for evidence of physics beyond the standard model in events that include an energetic photon and an energetic b-quark jet, produced in 85 pb(-1) of (p) over barp collisions at 1.8 TeV at the Tevatron Collider at Fermilab. This signature, containing at least one gauge boson and a third-generation quark, could arise in the production and decay of a pair of new particles, such as those predicted by supersymmetry, leading to a production rate exceeding standard model predictions. We also search these events for anomalous production of missing transverse energy, additional jets and leptons (e, mu and tau), and additional b quarks. We find no evidence for any anomalous production of gammab or gammab + X events, We present limits on two supersymmetric models: a model where the photon is produced in the decay (χ) over tilde (0)(2)→gamma(χ) over tilde (0)(1), and a model where the photon is produced in the neutralino decay into the gravitino LSP, (χ) over tilde (0)(1)→gamma(G) over tilde. We also present our limits in a model-independent form and test methods of applying model-independent limits