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

Kód výsledku v 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>

Výsledek na webu

<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>

Jazyk výsledku

angličtina

Název v původním jazyce

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

Popis výsledku v původním jazyce

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).

Název v anglickém jazyce

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

Popis výsledku anglicky

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).

Druh

J_imp - Článek v periodiku v databázi Web of Science

CEP obor

—

OECD FORD obor

10308 - Astronomy (including astrophysics,space science)

Projekt

<a href="/cs/project/GA18-00533S" target="_blank" >GA18-00533S: Reverberace akrečních disků černých děr</a><br>

Návaznosti

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Rok uplatnění

2020

Kód důvěrnosti údajů

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

Název periodika

Nature Astronomy

ISSN

2397-3366

e-ISSN

—

Svazek periodika

4

Číslo periodika v rámci svazku

6

Stát vydavatele periodika

GB - Spojené království Velké Británie a Severního Irska

Počet stran výsledku

6

Strana od-do

597-602

Kód UT WoS článku

000508323100003

EID výsledku v databázi Scopus

2-s2.0-85078314978