99 research outputs found
X-ray/γ-ray Correlation in Seyfert 2 Galaxy NGC 4945
We report the correlation between the X-ray and γ-ray emission found in our analysis of the Fermi/LAT and Swift/BAT data from 8 years of observations of the nearby Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 4945. Using the BAT light-curves we determined summed periods of low and high X-ray flux and we found that the average γ-ray spectrum is harder in the latter (higher X-ray flux level), with the difference of the γ-ray spectral index of ~0.4. The correlation indicates that the γ-rays are produced in the active nucleus of this Seyfert galaxy rather than by cosmic rays interacting with the interstellar medium (as assumed in the alternative starburst model). We compare NGC 4945 with two other γ-ray loud galaxies showing both starburst and AGN activities, NGC 1068 and Circinus.ETIUDA doctoral grant
DEC-2016/20/T/ST9/00386, OPUS grant DEC-2016/21/B/ST9/0238
Geometry of the X-ray source 1H 0707–495
Aims. We investigate the constraints on the size and location of the X-ray source in 1H 0707–495 determined from the shape of the relativistically smeared reflection from the accretion disc. Methods. We developed a new code to model an extended X-ray source and we applied this code to all archival XMM observations of 1H 0707–495. Results. In contrast to earlier works we find that the relativistic reflection in this source is not consistent with an extended uniform corona. Instead, we find that the X-ray source must be very compact, at most a gravitational radius in size, and located at most a few gravitational radii from the black-hole horizon. A uniform extended corona produces an emissivity that is similar to a twice-broken power-law, but the inner emissivity is fixed by the source geometry rather than being a free parameter. In 1H0707–495, the reflection from the inner disc is much stronger than expected for a uniformly extended source. Including the effect of ionised absorption from the wind does not change this conclusion, but including scattered emission (and more complex absorption) from the wind can dramatically change the reflection parameters
Monte Carlo simulations of global Compton cooling in inner regions of hot accretion flows
Hot accretion flows such as advection-dominated accretion flows are generally
optically thin in the radial direction. Thus photons generated at some radii
can cool or heat electrons at other radii via Compton scattering. Such global
Compton scattering has previously been shown to be important for the dynamics
of accretion flows. Here, we extend previous treatments of this problem by
using accurate global general relativistic Monte Carlo simulations. We focus on
an inner region of the accretion flow (R < 600R_g), for which we obtain a
global self-consistent solution. As compared to the initial, not
self-consistent solution, the final solution has both the cooling rate and the
electron temperature significantly reduced at radii >=10 gravitational radii.
On the other hand, the radiation spectrum of the self-consistent solution has
the shape similar to that of the initial iteration, except for the high-energy
cut-off being at an energy lower by a factor of ~2 and the bolometric
luminosity decreased by a factor of ~2. We also compare the global Compton
scattering model with local models in spherical and slab geometry. We find that
the slab model approximates the global model significantly better than the
spherical one. Still, neither local model gives a good approximation to the
radial profile of the cooling rate, and the differences can be up to two orders
of magnitude. The local slab model underestimates the cooling rate at outer
regions whereas it overestimates that rate at inner regions. We compare our
modelling results to observed hard-state spectra of black-hole binaries and
find an overall good agreement provided any disc outflow is weak. We find that
general-relativistic effects in flows which dynamics is modified by global
Comptonization is crucial in approaching this agreement.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures. Accepted to MNRAS. Add a new section to discuss
on the impact of outflow and viscous electron heatin
Experimental verification of Hyper-V performance isolation level
The need for cost optimization in a broad sense constitutes the basis of operation of every enterprise. In the case of IT structure, which is present in almost every field of activity these days, one of the most commonly applied technologies leading to good cost-to-profit adjustment is virtualization. It consists in locating several operational systems with IT systems on a single server. In order for such optimization to be carried out correctly it has to be strictly controlled by means of allocating access to resources, which is known as performance isolation. Modern virtualizers allow to set up this allocation in quantitative terms (the number of processors, size of RAM, or disc space). It appears, however, that in qualitative terms (processor's time, RAM or hard disc bandwidth) the actual allocation of resources does not always correspond with this configuration. This paper provides an experimental presentation of the achievable level of performance isolation of the Hyper-V virtualizer
General-relativistic model of hot accretion flows with global Compton cooling
We present a model of optically thin, two-temperature, accretion flows using
an exact Monte Carlo treatment of global Comptonization, with seed photons from
synchrotron and bremsstrahlung emission, as well as with a fully general
relativistic description of both the radiative and hydrodynamic processes. We
consider accretion rates for which the luminosities of the flows are between
~0.001 and 0.01 of the Eddington luminosity. The black hole spin parameter
strongly affects the flow structure within the innermost 10 gravitational
radii. The resulting large difference between the Coulomb heating in models
with a non-rotating and a rapidly rotating black hole is, however, outweighed
by a strong contribution of compression work, much less dependent on spin. The
consequent reduction of effects related to the value of the black spin is more
significant at smaller accretion rates. For a non-rotating black hole, the
compressive heating of electrons dominates over their Coulomb heating, and
results in an approximately constant radiative efficiency of approximately 0.4
per cent in the considered range of luminosities. For a rapidly rotating black
hole, the Coulomb heating dominates, the radiative efficiency is ~1 per cent
and it slightly increases (but less significantly than estimated in some
previous works) with increasing accretion rate. We find an agreement between
our model, in which the synchrotron emission is the main source of seed
photons, and observations of black-hole binaries in their hard states and AGNs
at low luminosities. In particular, our model predicts a hardening of the X-ray
spectrum with increasing luminosity, as indeed observed below ~0.01 of the
Eddington luminosity in both black-hole binaries and AGNs. Also, our model
approximately reproduces the luminosity and the slope of the X-ray emission in
Cen A.Comment: 13 pages, MNRAS, accepte
On variability and spectral distortion of the fluorescent iron lines from black-hole accretion discs
We investigate properties of iron fluorescent line arising as a result of
illumination of a black hole accretion disc by an X-ray source located above
the disc surface. We study in details the light-bending model of variability of
the line, extending previous work on the subject.
We indicate bending of photon trajectories to the equatorial plane, which is
a distinct property of the Kerr metric, as the most feasible effect underlying
reduced variability of the line observed in several objects. A model involving
an X-ray source with a varying radial distance, located within a few central
gravitational radii around a rapidly rotating black hole, close to the disc
surface, may explain both the elongated red wing of the line profile and the
complex variability pattern observed in MCG--6-30-15 by XMM-Newton.
We point out also that illumination by radiation which returns to the disc
(following the previous reflection) contributes significantly to formation of
the line profile in some cases. As a result of this effect, the line profile
always has a pronounced blue peak (which is not observed in the deep minimum
state in MCG--6-30-15), unless the reflecting material is absent within the
innermost 2--3 gravitational radii.Comment: 24 pages, 22 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Comptonization in the vicinity of black hole horizon
Using a Monte Carlo method, we derive spectra arising from Comptonization
taking place close to a Kerr black hole. We consider a model consisting of a
hot thermal corona Comptonizing seed photons emitted by a cold accretion disc.
We find that general relativistic effects are crucial for the emerging spectra
in models which involve significant contribution of radiation produced in the
black hole ergosphere. Due to this contribution, spectra of hard X-ray emission
produced in the vicinity of a rapidly rotating black hole strongly depend on
the inclination of the line of sight, with larger inclinations corresponding to
harder spectra. Remarkably, such anisotropy could be responsible for properties
of the X-ray spectra of Seyfert galaxies, which appear to be intrinsically
harder in type 2 objects than in type 1, as reported recently.Comment: 13 pages, 15 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Hybrid Comptonization and Electron-Positron Pair Production in the Black-hole X-Ray Binary MAXI J1820+070
We study X-ray and soft gamma-ray spectra from the hard state of the accreting black-hole binary MAXI J1820+070. We perform an analysis of two joint spectra from NuSTAR and INTEGRAL, covering the range of 3-650 keV, and of an average joint spectrum over the rise of the hard state, covering the 3-2200 keV range. The spectra are well modeled by Comptonization of soft seed photons. However, the distributions of the scattering electrons are not purely thermal; we find they have substantial high-energy tails, well modeled as power laws. The photon tail in the average spectrum is detected well beyond the threshold for electron-positron pair production, 511 keV. This allows us to calculate the rate of the electron-positron pair production and put a lower limit on the size of the source from pair equilibrium. At the fitted Thomson optical depth of the Comptonizing plasma, the limit is about 4 gravitational radii. If we adopt the sizes estimated by us from the reflection spectroscopy of >20 gravitational radii, the fractional pair abundance becomes much less than unity. The low pair abundance is confirmed by the lack of both an annihilation feature and of a pair absorption cutoff above 511 keV in the average spectrum
3D PET image reconstruction based on Maximum Likelihood Estimation Method (MLEM) algorithm
Positron emission tomographs (PET) do not measure an image directly. Instead,
they measure at the boundary of the field-of-view (FOV) of PET tomograph a
sinogram that consists of measurements of the sums of all the counts along the
lines connecting two detectors. As there is a multitude of detectors build-in
typical PET tomograph structure, there are many possible detector pairs that
pertain to the measurement. The problem is how to turn this measurement into an
image (this is called imaging). Decisive improvement in PET image quality was
reached with the introduction of iterative reconstruction techniques. This
stage was reached already twenty years ago (with the advent of new powerful
computing processors). However, three dimensional (3D) imaging remains still a
challenge. The purpose of the image reconstruction algorithm is to process this
imperfect count data for a large number (many millions) of lines-of-responce
(LOR) and millions of detected photons to produce an image showing the
distribution of the labeled molecules in space.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure
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