Broad Iron Lines in AGN and X-Ray Binaries |
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Authors: | A C Fabian |
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Institution: | (1) Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA, UK |
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Abstract: | Several AGN and black hole X-ray binaries show a clear very broad iron line, which is strong evidence that the black holes
are rapidly spinning. Detailed analysis of these objects shows that the emission line is not significantly affected by absorption
and that the source variability is principally due to variation in amplitude of a power-law. Underlying this is a much less
variable, relativistically-smeared, reflection-dominated, component which carries the imprint of strong gravity at a few gravitational
radii. The strong gravitational light bending in these regions then explains the power-law variability as due to changes in
height of the primary X-ray source above the disc. The reflection component, in particular its variability and the profile
of the iron line, enables us to study the innermost regions around an accreting, spinning, black hole. |
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Keywords: | accretion accretion disks black hole physics x-rays: galaxies |
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