XMM-Newton and Broad Iron Lines

Abstract

Iron line emission is common in the X-ray spectra of accreting black holes. When the line emission is broad or variable then it is likely to originate from close to the black hole. X-ray irradiation of the accretion flow by the power-law X-ray continuum produces the X-ray 'reflection' spectrum which includes the iron line. The shape and variability of the iron lines and reflection can be used as a diagnostic of the radius, velocity and nature of the flow. The inner radius of the dense flow corresponds to the innermost stable circular orbit and thus can be used to determine the spin of the black hole. Studies of broad iron lines and reflection spectra offer much promise for understanding how the inner parts of accretion flows (and outflows) around black holes operate. There remains great potential for XMM-Newton to continue to make significant progress in this work. The need for high quality spectra and thus for long exposure times is paramount.Comment: 7 pages, 18 figures, accepted for publication in Astron. Nachr. (ESAC Conference