Comptonization in the vicinity of black hole horizon

Abstract

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.

13 pages, 15 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

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• The radio/X-ray correlation in X-ray binaries - Insights from a hard X-ray perspective
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• General-relativistic model of hot accretion flows with global Compton cooling
• Monte Carlo simulations of global Compton cooling in inner regions of hot accretion flows
• ALMA/NICER observations of GRS 1915+105 indicate a return to a hard state
• Gamma-ray emission from proton-proton interactions in hot accretion flows
• Timescales of the chaos onset in the general relativistic Poynting-Robertson effect
• Modelling the energy dependencies of high-frequency QPO in black hole X-ray binaries
• Astrophysics in 2005
• Relativistic reflection within an extended hot plasma geometry
• Improved model of X-ray emission from hot accretion flows