Publications (19)
Tracking the X-ray Polarization of the Black Hole Transient Swift J1727.8-1613 during a State Transition
Adam Ingram, Niek Bollemeijer, Alexandra Veledina +120
We report on an observational campaign on the bright black hole X-ray binary Swift J1727.81613 centered around five observations by the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE)…
The High Energy X-ray Probe (HEX-P): Probing Accretion onto Stellar Mass Black Holes
Riley Connors, John Tomsick, Paul Draghis +20
Accretion is a universal astrophysical process that plays a key role in cosmic history, from the epoch of reionization to galaxy and stellar formation and evolution. Accreting stel…
Revisiting the galactic X-ray binary MAXI J1631-479: Implications for high inclination and a massive black hole
Sandeep K. Rout, Santosh Vadawale, Javier Garcia +1
X-ray spectroscopy of galactic black hole binaries serve as a powerful tool to gain an overall understanding of the system. Not only can the properties of the accretion disk be stu…
Characterizing the Broadband Reflection Spectrum of MAXI J1803-298 During its 2021 Outburst with NuSTAR and NICER
Oluwashina Adegoke, Javier Garcia, Riley Connors +12
MAXI J1803-298 is a transient black hole candidate discovered in May of 2021 during an outburst that lasted several months. Multiple X-ray observations reveal recurring "dipping" i…
Proof of principle X-ray reflection mass measurement of the black hole in H1743-322
Edward Nathan, Adam Ingram, James F. Steiner +9
The black hole X-ray binary H1743-322 lies in a region of the Galaxy with high extinction, and therefore it has not been possible to make a dynamical mass measurement. In this pape…
The very high X-ray polarisation of accreting black hole IGRJ17091-3624 in the hard state
Melissa Ewing, Maxime Parra, Guglielmo Mastroserio +26
We report the first detection of the X-ray polarisation of the transient black hole X-ray binary IGRJ17091-3624 taken with the Imaging X-ray polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) in March 20…
A jet-dominated model for a broad-band spectral energy distribution of the nearby low-luminosity active galactic nucleus in M94
Pieter van Oers, Sera Markoff, Phil Uttley +4
We have compiled a new multiwavelength spectral energy distribution (SED) for the closest obscured low-ionization emission-line region active galactic nucleus (AGN), NGC 4736, also…
Highly-coherent quasi-periodic oscillations in the 'heartbeat' black hole X-ray binary IGR J17091-3624
Jingyi Wang, Erin Kara, Jeroen Homan +13
IGR J17091-3624 is a black hole X-ray binary (BHXB), often referred to as the 'twin' of GRS 1915+105 because it is the only other known BHXB that can show exotic 'heartbeat'-like v…
Variability as a predictor for the hard-to-soft state transition in GX 339-4
Matteo Lucchini, Marina Ten Have, Jingyi Wang +17
During the outbursts of black hole X-ray binaries (BHXRBs), their accretion flows transition through several states. The source luminosity rises in the hard state, dominated by non…
Disk, Corona, Jet Connection in the Intermediate State of MAXI J1820+070 Revealed by NICER Spectral-Timing Analysis
Jingyi Wang, Guglielmo Mastroserio, Erin Kara +14
We analyze 5 epochs of NICER data of the black hole X-ray binary MAXI J1820+070 during the bright hard-to-soft state transition in its 2018 outburst with both reflection spectrosco…
Modelling correlated variability in accreting black holes: the effect of high density and variable ionisation on reverberation lags
Guglielmo Mastroserio, Adam Ingram, Jingyi Wang +9
We present a new release of the RELTRANS model to fit the complex cross-spectrum of accreting black holes as a function of energy. The model accounts for continuum lags and reverbe…
The NICER "Reverberation Machine": A Systematic Study of Time Lags in Black Hole X-Ray Binaries
Jingyi Wang, Erin Kara, Matteo Lucchini +12
We perform the first systematic search of all NICER archival observations of black hole (and candidate) low-mass X-ray binaries for signatures of reverberation. Reverberation lags…
Black-Hole Spin Measurements from X-ray Reflection Spectroscopy: Quality Criteria and Community Recommendations
Javier A. Garcia, Riley Connors, Laura W. Brenneman +1
The paper proposes a practical framework and checklist for assessing the reliability of black‑hole spin measurements obtained via X‑ray reflection spectroscopy, defining criteria f…
The 2022 Outburst of IGR J17091-3624: Connecting the exotic GRS 1915+105 to standard black hole X-ray binaries
Jingyi Wang, Erin Kara, Javier A. GarcÃa +13
While the standard X-ray variability of black hole X-ray binaries (BHXBs) is stochastic and noisy, there are two known BHXBs that exhibit exotic `heartbeat'-like variability in the…
X-ray Reflection from the Plunging Region of Black Hole Accretion Disks
Jameson Dong, Guglielmo Mastroserio, Javier A. Garcıa +3
Accretion around black holes is very often characterized by distinctive X-ray reflection features (mostly, iron inner-shell transitions), which arise due to the primary radiation b…
Modeling Multiple X-Ray Reflection in Super-Eddington Winds
Zijian Zhang, Lars Lund Thomsen, Lixin Dai +7
It has been recently discovered that a few super-Eddington sources undergoing black hole super-Eddington accretion exhibit X-ray reflection signatures. In such new systems, one exp…
Reflection Modeling of the Black Hole Binary 4U~163047: the Disk Density and Returning Radiation
Riley Connors, Javier GarcÃa, John Tomsick +11
We present the analysis of X-ray observations of the black hole binary 4U~163047 using relativistic reflection spectroscopy. We use archival data from the RXTE, Swift, and NuSTA…
Multi-wavelength detectability of isolated black holes in the Milky Way
Francesca Scarcella, Daniele Gaggero, Riley Connors +3
Isolated black holes in our Galaxy have eluded detection so far. We present here a comprehensive study on the detectability of isolated stellar-mass astrophysical black holes that…
On measuring the Hubble constant with X-ray reverberation mapping of active galactic nuclei
Adam Ingram, Guglielmo Mastroserio, Michiel van der Klis +8
We show that X-ray reverberation mapping can be used to measure the distance to type 1 active galactic nuclei (AGNs). This is because X-ray photons originally emitted from the `cor…