Probing the Black Hole Engine with Measurements of the Relativistic X-ray Reflection Component

Abstract

Over the last decades X-ray spectroscopy has proven to be a powerful tool for the estimation of black hole spin and several other key parameters in dozens of AGN and black hole X-ray binaries. In this White Paper, we discuss the observational and theoretical challenges expected in the exploration, discovery, and study of astrophysical black holes in the next decade. We focus on the case of accreting black holes and their electromagnetic signatures, with particular emphasis on the measurement of the relativistic reflection component in their X-ray spectra.

arXiv commentAstro 2020 Decadal science White Paper

References in corpus (40)

• Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger
• GW170104: Observation of a 50-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence at Redshift 0.2
• Measuring Black Hole Spin using X-ray Reflection Spectroscopy
• The Hot and Energetic Universe: A White Paper presenting the science theme motivating the Athena+ mission
• Irradiation of an Accretion Disc by a Jet: General Properties and Implications for Spin Measurements of Black Holes
• Black Hole Spin via Continuum Fitting and the Role of Spin in Powering Transient Jets
• Black Hole Superradiance Signatures of Ultralight Vectors
• The corona contracts in a black-hole transient
• The Constant Inner-Disk Radius of LMC X-3: A Basis for Measuring Black Hole Spin
• A global look at X-ray time lags in Seyfert Galaxies
• X-ray Reflection By Photoionized Accretion Discs
• The Spin of Supermassive Black Holes
• High-Density Effects in X-ray Reflection Models from Accretion Disks
• Relativistic iron emission lines in neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries as probes of neutron star radii
• The Reflection Component from Cygnus X-1 in the Soft State Measured by NuSTAR and Suzaku
• The Origin of Black Hole Spin in Galactic Low-Mass X-ray Binaries
• X-ray reflection in accreting stellar-mass black hole systems
• On the determination of the spin and disc truncation of accreting black holes using X-ray reflection
• The Eye of the Storm: Light from the Inner Plunging Region of Black Hole Accretion Discs
• The 1.5 Ms Observing Campaign on IRAS 13224-3809: X-ray Spectral Analysis I
• Towards modelling X-ray reverberation in AGN: Piecing together the extended corona
• The Soft-Excess in Mrk 509: Warm Corona or Relativistic Reflection?
• The Comptonisation of accretion disc X-ray emission: Consequences for X-ray reflection and the geometry of AGN coronae
• A Monte Carlo Markov Chain based investigation of black hole spin in the active galaxy NGC3783
• Modeling the Jet Kinematics of the Black Hole Microquasar XTE J1550-564: A Constraint on Spin-Orbit Alignment
• Self-Consistent Black Hole Accretion Spectral Models and the Forgotten Role of Coronal Comptonization of Reflection Emission
• Multi-timescale X-ray reverberation mapping of accreting black holes
• Reflection From the Strong Gravity Regime in a z=0.658 Gravitationally Lensed-Quasar
• Relativistic X-ray reverberation modelling of the combined time-averaged and lag-energy spectra in AGN
• The Mass of the Black Hole in the X-ray Binary Nova Muscae 1991
• The reverberation lag in the low mass X-ray binary H1743-322
• X-Ray Reverberation From Black Hole Accretion Disks with Realistic Geometric Thickness
• A high-density relativistic reflection origin for the soft and hard X-ray excess emission from Mrk 1044
• A Rapidly Spinning Black Hole Powers the Einstein Cross
• The view of AGN-host alignment via reflection spectroscopy
• Steep X-ray reflection emissivity profiles in AGN as the result of radially-structured disc ionisation
• A high velocity component to the complex absorption in IRAS 13349+2438
• Relativistic reflection from accretion disks in the population of Active Galactic Nuclei at z=0.5-4
• KYNREFREV - implementation of an X-ray reverberation model in XSPEC
• Predicting Stellar-Mass Black Hole X-ray Spectra from Simulations