| 1. |
- Feroci, M., et al.
(författare)
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The Large Observatory for X-ray Timing (LOFT)
- 2012
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Ingår i: Experimental Astronomy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0922-6435 .- 1572-9508. ; 34:2, s. 415-444
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- High-time-resolution X-ray observations of compact objects provide direct access to strong-field gravity, to the equation of state of ultradense matter and to black hole masses and spins. A 10 m(2)-class instrument in combination with good spectral resolution is required to exploit the relevant diagnostics and answer two of the fundamental questions of the European Space Agency (ESA) Cosmic Vision Theme "Matter under extreme conditions", namely: does matter orbiting close to the event horizon follow the predictions of general relativity? What is the equation of state of matter in neutron stars? The Large Observatory For X-ray Timing (LOFT), selected by ESA as one of the four Cosmic Vision M3 candidate missions to undergo an assessment phase, will revolutionise the study of collapsed objects in our galaxy and of the brightest supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei. Thanks to an innovative design and the development of large-area monolithic silicon drift detectors, the Large Area Detector (LAD) on board LOFT will achieve an effective area of similar to 12 m(2) (more than an order of magnitude larger than any spaceborne predecessor) in the 2-30 keV range (up to 50 keV in expanded mode), yet still fits a conventional platform and small/medium-class launcher. With this large area and a spectral resolution of < 260 eV, LOFT will yield unprecedented information on strongly curved spacetimes and matter under extreme conditions of pressure and magnetic field strength.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Ciesielski, A., et al.
(författare)
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Stability of radiation-pressure dominated disks: I. the dispersion relation for a delayed heating α-viscosity prescription
- 2012
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 538
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We derive and investigate the dispersion relation for accretion disks with retarded or advanced heating. We follow the α-prescription but allow for a time offset τ between heating and pressure perturbations, as well as for a diminished response of heating to pressure variations. We study in detail solutions of the dispersion relation for disks with radiation-pressure fraction, 1-β, and ξ, the ratio of viscous stress response to pressure perturbations. For τ < 0 (advanced heating) the number and sign of real solutions for the growth rate depend on the values of τ, and ξ: if the magnitude of τ is larger than a critical value (e.g., more than twice the thermal time,-τ > 2 τ th, for β = 0 and ξ = 1) two real solutions exist, which are both negative. These results imply that radiation-pressure dominated accretion disks may be stabilized when there is a time delay between stress fluctuations and fluctuations in heating. © 2012 ESO.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Sadowski, A., et al.
(författare)
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Vertical dissipation profiles and the photosphere location in thin and slim accretion disks
- 2009
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 502:1, s. 7-13
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- As several authors in the past, we calculate optically thick but geometrically thin (and slim) accretion disk models and perform a ray-tracing of photons in the Kerr geometry to calculate the observed disk continuum spectra. Previously, it was common practice to ray-trace photons assuming that they are emitted from the Kerr geometry equatorial plane, z = 0. We show that the continuum spectra calculated with this assumption differ from these calculated under the assumption that photons are emitted from the actual surface of the disc, z = H(r). This implies that a knowledge of the location of the thin disk effective photosphere is relevant for calculating the continuum emission. In this paper we investigate, in terms of a simple model, a possible influence of the (unknown, and therefore assumed ad hoc) vertical dissipation profiles on the vertical structure of the disk and thus on the location of the effective photosphere, and on the observed continuum spectra. For disks with moderate and high mass accretion rates (dot m > 0.01 dot m_C), we find that the photosphere location in the inner, radiation pressure dominated, disk region (where most of the radiation comes from) does not depend on the dissipation profile and therefore emerging disk spectra are insensitive to the choice of the dissipation function. For lower accretion rates, the photosphere location depends on the assumed vertical dissipation profile down to the disk inner edge, but the dependence is very weak and thus of minor importance. We conclude that the continuum spectra of optically thick accretion disks around black holes should be calculated with ray-tracing from the effective photosphere and that, fortunately, the choice of a particular vertical dissipation profile does not substantially influence the calculated emission.
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| 6. |
- Vincent, F. H., et al.
(författare)
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A magnetized torus for modeling Sagittarius A* millimeter images and spectra
- 2015
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Ingår i: Astronomy & Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 574
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. The supermassive black hole, Sagittarius (Sgr) A*, in the centre of our Galaxy has the largest angular size in the sky among all astrophysical black holes. Its shadow, assuming no rotation, spans similar to 50 mu as. Resolving such dimensions has long been out of reach for astronomical instruments until a new generation of interferometers being operational during this decade. Of particular interest is the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) with resolution similar to 20 mu as in the millimeter- wavelength range 0.87 mm- 1.3 mm. Aims. We investigate the ability of the fully general relativistic Komissarov (2006, MNRAS, 368, 993) analytical magnetized torus model to account for observable constraints at Sgr A* in the centimeter and millimeter domains. The impact of the magnetic field geometry on the observables is also studied. Methods. We calculate ray-traced centimeter- and millimeter-wavelength synchrotron spectra and images of a magnetized accretion torus surrounding the central black hole in Sgr A*. We assume stationarity, axial symmetry, constant specific angular momentum and polytropic equation of state. A hybrid population of thermal and non-thermal electrons is considered. Results. We show that the torus model is capable of reproducing spectral constraints in the millimeter domain, and in particular in the observable domain of the EHT. However, the torus model is not yet able to fit the centimeter spectrum. 1.3 mm images at high inclinations are in agreement with observable constraints. Conclusions. The ability of the torus model to account for observations of Sgr A* in the millimeter domain is interesting in the perspective of the future EHT. Such an analytical model allows very fast computations. It will thus be a suitable test bed for investigating large domains of physical parameters, as well as non-black-hole compact object candidates and alternative theories of gravity.
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| 7. |
- Vincent, F. H., et al.
(författare)
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Multi-wavelength torus-jet model for Sagittarius A*
- 2019
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Ingår i: Astronomy & Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 1432-0746 .- 0004-6361. ; 624
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. The properties of the accretion/ejection flow surrounding the supermassive central black hole of the Galaxy Sgr A* will be scrutinized by the new-generation instrument GRAVITY and the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). Developing fast, robust, and simple models of such flows is therefore important and very timely. Aims. We want to model the quiescent emission of Sgr A* from radio to mid-infrared wavelengths, using thermal and nonthermal synchrotron. The radiation is emitted by the overlay of a magnetized compact torus close to the black hole, and a large-scale magnetized jet. We compare model spectra and images to the multi-wavelength observable constraints available to date. We simulate EHT observations at 1.3 mm of the best-fit model for different inclinations. Methods. We use a simple analytic description for the geometry of the torus and jet. We model their emission by thermal synchrotron and kappa-distribution synchrotron, respectively. We use relativistic ray tracing to compute simulated spectra and images, restricting our analysis to the Schwarzschild (zero spin) case. A best-fit is found by adjusting the simulated spectra to the latest observed data, and we check the consistency of our spectral best fits with the radio-image sizes and infrared spectral index constraints. We use the open-source eht-imaging library to generate EHT-reconstructed images. Results. We find perfect spectral fit (chi(2 )(red)approximate to 1)both for nearly face-on and nearly edge-on views. These best fits give parameter values very close to those found by the most recent numerical simulations, which are much more complex than our model. The intrinsic radio size of Sgr A* is found to be in reasonable agreement with the centimetric observed constraints. Our best-fit infrared spectral index is in perfect agreement with the latest constraints. Our emission region at 1.3 mm, although larger than the early-EHT Gaussian best fit, does contain bright features at the less than or similar to 40 mu as scale. EHT-reconstructed images show that torus/jet-specific features persist after the reconstruction procedure, and that these features are sensitive to inclination. Conclusions. The main interest of our model is to provide a simple and fast model of the quiescent state of Sgr A*, which gives extremely similar results to those of state-of-the-art numerical simulations. Our model is easy to use and we publish all the material necessary to reproduce our spectra and images, meaning that anyone interested can use our results relatively straightforwardly. We hope that such a public tool will be useful in the context of the recent and near-future GRAVITY and EHT results.
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| 8. |
- Abramowicz, Marek A, 1945, et al.
(författare)
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A Robust Test of the Existence of Primordial Black Holes in Galactic Dark Matter Halos
- 2022
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal Letters. - : American Astronomical Society. - 2041-8205 .- 2041-8213. ; 935:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- If very low mass primordial black holes (PBH) within the asteroid/moon-mass range indeed reside in galactic dark matter halos, they must necessarily collide with galactic neutron stars (NSs). These collisions must, again necessarily, form light black holes (LBHs) with masses of typical NSs, M (LBH) approximate to 1-2 M (circle dot). LBHs may be behind events already detected by ground-based gravitational-wave detectors (GW170817, GW190425, and others such as a mixed stellar black hole-NS-mass event GW191219_163120), and most recently by microlensing (OGLE-BLG-2011-0462). Although the status of these observations as containing LBHs is not confirmed, there is no question that gravitational-wave detectors and microlensing are in principle and in practice capable of detecting LBHs. We have calculated the creation rate of LBHs resulting from these light primordial black hole (PBH) collisions with NSs. On this basis, we claim that if improved gravitational-wave detectors and microlensing statistics of the LBH events would indicate that the number of LBHs is significantly lower that what follows from the calculated creation rate, then this would be an unambiguous proof that there is no significant light PBH contribution to the galactic dark matter halos. Otherwise, if observed and calculated numbers of LBHs roughly agree, then the hypothesis of primordial black hole existence gets strong observational support, and in addition their collisions with NSs may be considered a natural creation channel for the LBHs, solving the problem of their origin, as it is known that they cannot be a product of standard stellar evolution.
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| 9. |
- Abramowicz, Marek A, 1945, et al.
(författare)
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A Short Answer to Critics of Our Article "Eppur si Espande"
- 2009
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Ingår i: Acta Astronomica. ; 59:1, s. 131-139
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recently we presented a formal mathematical proof that, contrary to a widespread misconception, cosmological expansion cannot be understood as the motion of galaxies in non-expanding space. We showed that the cosmological redshift must be physically interpreted as the expansion of space. Although our proof was generally accepted, a few authors disagreed. We rebut their criticism in this Note.
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| 10. |
- Abramowicz, Marek A, 1945, et al.
(författare)
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And yet it's expanding
- 2007
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Ingår i: Acta Astronomica. - 0001-5237. ; 57:2, s. 139-148
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)
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