869 research outputs found
Spectral Properties of Accretion Disks Around Black Holes II -- Sub-Keplerian Flows With and Without Shocks
Close to a black hole, the density of the sub-Keplerian accreting matter
becomes higher compared to a spherical flow due to the presence of a
centrifugal barrier independent of whether or not a standing shock actually
forms. This hot dense flow intercepts soft photons from a cold Keplerian disk
and reprocesses them to form high energy X-rays and gamma rays. We study the
spectral properties of various models of accretion disks where a Keplerian disk
on the equatorial plane may or may not be flanked by a sub-Keplerian disk and
the sub-Keplerian flow may or may not possess standing shocks. From comparison
with the spectra, we believe that the observed properties could be explained
better when both the components (Keplerian and sub-Keplerian) are
simultaneously present close to a black hole, even though the sub-Keplerian
halo component may have been produced out of the Keplerian disk itself at
larger radii. We are able to understand soft and hard states of black hole
candidates, properties of X-ray novae outbursts, and quasi-periodic
oscillations of black hole candidates using these two component models. We fit
spectra of X-ray novae GS1124-68 and GS2000+25 and satisfactorily reproduce the
light curves of these objects.Comment: 15 Latex pages plus 12 figures. Macros included. Astrophysical
Journal (In press
Where is the Inner Edge of an Accretion Disk Around a Black Hole?
What is meant by the "inner edge" of an accretion disk around a black hole
depends on the property that defines the edge. We discuss four such definitions
using data from recent high-resolution numerical simulations. These are: the
"turbulence edge", where flux-freezing becomes more important than turbulence
in determining the magnetic field structure; the "stress edge", where plunging
matter loses dynamical contact with the outer accretion flow; the "reflection
edge", the smallest radius capable of producing significant X-ray reflection
features; and the "radiation edge", the innermost place from which significant
luminosity emerges. All these edges are dependent on the accretion rate and are
non-axisymmetric and time-variable. Although all are generally located in the
vicinity of the marginally stable orbit, significant displacements can occur,
and data interpretations placing the disk edge precisely at this point can be
misleading. If observations are to be used successfully as diagnostics of
accretion in strong gravity, the models used to interpret them must take
careful account of these distinctions.Comment: accepted by Ap.J., 26 p
A Disk--Jet interaction model for the X--Ray Variability in Microquasars
We propose a simple dynamical model that may account for the observed
spectral and temporal properties of GRS 1915+105 and XTE J1550-5634. The model
is based on the assumption that a fraction of the radiation emitted by a hot
spot lying on the accreting disk is dynamically Comptonized by the relativistic
jet that typically accompanies the microquasar phenomenon. We show that
scattering by the jet produces a detectable modulation of the observed flux. In
particular, we found that the phase lag between hard and soft photons depends
on the radial position of the hot spot and, if the angle between the jet and
the line of sight is sufficiently large, the lags of the fundamental and its
harmonics may be either positive or negative.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Part
Mass Determination of Black Holes in LMC X-1 and Nova Muscae 1991 from their High-Energy Spectra
We offer a brief description of the bulk-motion Comptonization (BMC) model
for accretion onto black holes, illustrated by its application to observational
data for LMC X-1, and Nova Muscae 1991. We then extract some physical
parameters of these systems from observables (within the context of the BMC
model}, drawing from results on GRO J1655-40, for which we presented extensive
analysis previously. We derive estimates of the mass, (16 +/- 1) solar masses
and mass accretion rate in the disk in Eddington units around 2 for LMC X-1,
and (24 +/- 1)d_{5.5} and the disk mass acretion rate around 3 for Nova Muscae
1991 [where d_{5.5} stands for the distance in 5.5 kpc units]. Differences
between these estimates and previous estimates based on dynamical studies are
discussed. It is further shown that the disk inner radius increases with the
high-to-low state transition in Nova Muscae 1991. Specifically, our analysis
suggests that the inner-disk radius increases to 17 Scwarzschild radii as the
transition to the low-hard state occurs.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, The paper is accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journal Letter
Chandra deep X-ray observation on the Galactic plane
Using the Chandra ACIS-I instruments, we have carried out the deepest X-ray
observation on a typical Galactic plane region at l 28.5 deg, where no discrete
X-ray sources have been known previously. We have detected, as well as strong
diffuse emission, 275 new point X-ray sources (4 sigma confidence) within two
partially overlapping fields (~250 arcmin^2 in total) down to ~3 x 10^{-15} erg
s^{-1} cm^{-2} (2 -- 10 keV) or ~ 7 x 10^{-16} erg s^{-1} cm^{-2} (0.5 -- 2
keV). We have studied spectral distribution of these point sources, and found
that very soft sources detected only below ~ 3 keV are more numerous than hard
sources detected only above ~ 3 keV. Only small number of sources are detected
both in the soft and hard bands. Surface density of the hard sources is almost
consistent with that at high Galactic regions, thus most of the hard sources
are considered to be Active Galactic Nuclei seen through the milky way. On the
other hand, some of the bright hard X-ray sources which show extremely flat
spectra and iron line or edge features are considered to be Galactic,
presumably quiescent dwarf novae. The soft sources show thermal spectra and
small interstellar hydrogen column densities, and some of them exhibit X-ray
flares. Therefore, most of the soft sources are probably X-ray active nearby
late type stars.Comment: Contribution to the proceedings of the "New Visions of the X-Ray
Universe in the XMM-Newton and Chandra Era" symposium at ESTEC, The
Netherlands. 26-30 Nov. 200
On the Origin of Radio Emission in the X-ray States of XTE J1650-500 during the 2001-2002 Outburst
We report on simultaneous radio and X-ray observations of the black hole
candidate XTE J1650-500 during the course of its 2001-2002 outburst. The
scheduling of the observations allowed us to sample the properties of XTE
J1650-50 in different X-ray spectral states, namely the hard state, the steep
power-law state and the thermal dominant state, according to the recent
spectral classification of McClintock & Remillard. The hard state is consistent
with a compact jet dominating the spectral energy distribution at radio
frequencies; however, the current data suggest that its contribution as direct
synchrotron emission at higher energies may not be significant. In that case,
XTE J1650-50 may be dominated by Compton processes (either inverse
Comptonization of thermal disk photons and/or SSC from the base of the compact
jet) in the X-ray regime. We, surprisingly, detect a faint level of radio
emission in the thermal dominant state that may be consistent with the emission
of previously ejected material interacting with the interstellar medium,
similar (but on a smaller angular scale) to what was observed in XTE J1550-564
by Corbel and co-workers. Based on the properties of radio emission in the
steep power-law state of XTE J1650-50, and taking into account the behavior of
other black hole candidates (namely GX 339-4, XTE J1550-564, and XTE J1859+226)
while in the intermediate and steep power-law states, we are able to present a
general pattern of behavior for the origin of radio emission in these two
states that could be important for understanding the accretion-ejection
coupling very close to the black hole event horizon.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal. 33 pages, 10
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