A dynamic black hole corona in an active galaxy through X-ray reverberation mapping

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F67985815%3A_____%2F20%3A00534991" target="_blank" >RIV/67985815:_____/20:00534991 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-019-1002-x" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-019-1002-x</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41550-019-1002-x" target="_blank" >10.1038/s41550-019-1002-x</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

A dynamic black hole corona in an active galaxy through X-ray reverberation mapping

Original language description

X-ray reverberation echoes are assumed to be produced in the strongly distorted spacetime around accreting supermassive black holes. This signal allows us to spatially map the geometry of the inner accretion flow(1,2)-a region that cannot yet be spatially resolved by any telescope-and provides a direct measure of the black hole mass and spin. The reverberation timescale is set by the light travel path between the direct emission from a hot X-ray corona and the reprocessed emission from the inner edge of the accretion disk(3-6). However, there is an inherent degeneracy in the reverberation signal between black hole mass, inner disk radius and height of the illuminating corona above the disk. Here we use a long X-ray observation of the highly variable active galaxy IRAS 13224-3809 to track the reverberation signal as the system evolves on timescales of a day(7,8). With the inclusion of all the relativistic effects, modelling reveals that the height of the X-ray corona increases with increasing luminosity, providing a dynamic view of the inner accretion region. This simultaneous modelling allows us to break the inherent degeneracies and obtain an independent timing-based estimate for the mass and spin of the black hole. The uncertainty on black hole mass is comparable to the leading optical reverberation method(9), making X-ray reverberation a powerful technique, particularly for sources with low optical variability(10).

Czech name

—

Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10308 - Astronomy (including astrophysics,space science)

Project

<a href="/en/project/GA18-00533S" target="_blank" >GA18-00533S: Reverberation from Black Hole accretion discs</a><br>

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2020

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Nature Astronomy

ISSN

2397-3366

e-ISSN

—

Volume of the periodical

4

Issue of the periodical within the volume

6

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

6

Pages from-to

597-602

UT code for WoS article

000508323100003

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85078314978