Fluorescent iron lines as a probe of astrophysical black hole systems

Reynolds, C. S.; Nowak, Michael A.

doi:10.1016/s0370-1573(02)00584-7

Cited by 504 publications

(498 citation statements)

References 299 publications

(468 reference statements)

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“…The most important feature of the reflected spectrum is the fluorescent Fe Kα line, which is broadened and skewed due to the special and general relativistic effects in regions close to the BH (Fabian et al 1989). Hence, modelling the reflection component provides us another way to measure the disc truncation radius (e.g., Reynolds & Nowak 2003). However, various studies of the reflection spectra have resulted in conflicting results, with some studies suggesting that the accretion disc extends till the ISCO (e.g., Miller et al 2006;Rykoff et al 2007;Reis, Fabian & Miller 2010), while some other studies find truncated discs (e.g., Done & Díaz Trigo 2010;Plant, O'Brien & Fender 2014;Plant et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spectral analysis of theXMM–Newtondata of GX 339–4 in the low/hard state: disc truncation and reflection

Basak¹,

Zdziarski²

2016

Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.

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We analyse all available observations of GX 339-4 by XMM-Newton in the hard spectral state. We jointly fit the spectral data by Comptonization and the currently best reflection code, relxill. We consider in detail a contribution from a standard blackbody accretion disc, testing whether its inner radius can be set equal to that of the reflector. However, this leads to an unphysical behaviour of the disc truncation radius, implying the soft X-ray component is not a standard blackbody disc. This appears to be due to irradiation by the hard X-rays, which strongly dominate the total emission. We consider a large array of models, testing, e.g., the effects of the chosen energy range, of adding unblurred reflection, and assuming a lamppost geometry. We find the effects of relativistic broadening to be relatively weak in all cases. In the coronal models, we find the inner radius to be large. In the lamppost model, the inner radius is unconstrained, but when fixed to the innermost stable orbit, the height of the source is large, which also implies a weak relativistic broadening. In the former models, the inner radius correlates with the X-ray hardness ratio, which is consistent with the presence of a truncated disc turning into a complete disc in the soft state. We also find the degree of the disc ionization to anti-correlate with the hardness, leading to strong spectral broadening due to scattering of reflected photons in the reflector in the softest studied states.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spectral analysis of theXMM–Newtondata of GX 339–4 in the low/hard state: disc truncation and reflection

Basak¹,

Zdziarski²

2016

Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.

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“…The collection of papers cited is a reflection of our own experience with the subject matter. We note that excellent reviews of this topic have recently appeared [33] [34]. We take a more tutorial approach in this paper, and hope that readers will find our paper to be complementary, although there is some unavoidable overlap.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Atomic X-ray spectroscopy of accreting black holes

Liedahl¹,

Torres²

2005

Can. J. Phys.

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Current astrophysical research suggests that the most persistently luminous objects in the Universe are powered by the flow of matter through accretion disks onto black holes. Accretion disk systems are observed to emit copious radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum, each energy band providing access to rather distinct regimes of physical conditions and geometric scale. X-ray emission probes the innermost regions of the accretion disk, where relativistic effects prevail. While this has been known for decades, it also has been acknowledged that inferring physical conditions in the relativistic regime from the behavior of the X-ray continuum is problematic and not satisfactorily constraining. With the discovery in the 1990s of iron X-ray lines bearing signatures of relativistic distortion came the hope that such emission would more firmly constrain models of disk accretion near black holes, as well as provide observational criteria by which to test general relativity in the strong field limit. Here we provide an introduction to this phenomenon. While the presentation is intended to be primarily tutorial in nature, we aim also to acquaint the reader with trends in current research. To achieve these ends, we present the basic applications of general relativity that pertain to X-ray spectroscopic observations of black hole accretion disk systems, focusing on the Schwarzschild and Kerr solutions to the Einstein field equations. To this we add treatments of the fundamental concepts associated with the theoretical and modeling aspects of accretion disks, as well as relevant topics from observational and theoretical X-ray spectroscopy. PACS Nos.: 32.30. Rj, 32.80.Hd, 95.30.Dr, 95.30.Sf, 95.85.Nv, 97.10.Gz. 97.80.Jp, 98.35.Mp, 98.62.Mw

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“…A broad relativistic iron Kα spectral emission line is observed from many stellar-mass and supermassive black hole systems (Fabian et al 2000;Reynolds and Nowak 2003;Miller 2007). Such a fluorescent line near 6 keV is believed to originate from the reflection of hard X-rays from the geometrically thin accretion disc.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relativistic Disc Line: A Tool to Constrain Neutron Star Equation of State Models

Bhattacharyya

2017

J Astrophys Astron

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Abstract. Relativistic iron Kα spectral emission line from the inner disc of a neutron star low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) was first detected in 2007. This discovery opened up new ways to probe strong gravity and dense matter. The past decade has seen detections of such a line from many neutron star LMXBs, and confirmation of this line from the same source with several X-ray satellites. These have firmly established the new field of relativistic disc line from neutron star systems in only ten years. Fitting the shape of such a line with an appropriate general relativistic model provides the accretion disc inner edge radius to the stellar mass ratio. In this review, we briefly discuss how an accurate measurement of this ratio with a future larger area X-ray instrument can be used to constrain neutron star equation of state models.

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Fluorescent iron lines as a probe of astrophysical black hole systems

Cited by 504 publications

References 299 publications

Spectral analysis of theXMM–Newtondata of GX 339–4 in the low/hard state: disc truncation and reflection

Spectral analysis of theXMM–Newtondata of GX 339–4 in the low/hard state: disc truncation and reflection

Atomic X-ray spectroscopy of accreting black holes

Relativistic Disc Line: A Tool to Constrain Neutron Star Equation of State Models

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