X-ray fluorescence from super-Eddington accreting black holes. (arXiv:1907.11462v1 [astro-ph.GA])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Thomsen_L/0/1/0/all/0/1">Lars Lund Thomsen</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Dai_J/0/1/0/all/0/1">Jane Lixin Dai</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Ramirez_Ruiz_E/0/1/0/all/0/1">Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Kara_E/0/1/0/all/0/1">Erin Kara</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Reynolds_C/0/1/0/all/0/1">Chris Reynolds</a>
X-ray reverberation has proven to be a powerful tool capable of probing the
innermost region of accretion disks around compact objects. Current theoretical
effort generally assumes that the disk is geometrically thin, optically thick
and orbiting with Keplerian speed. Thus, these models cannot be applied to
systems where super-Eddington accretion happens because the thin disk
approximation fails in this accretion regime. Furthermore, state-of-the-art
numerical simulations show that optically thick winds are launched from
super-Eddington accretion disks, and thereby changing the reflection geometry
significantly from the thin disk picture. We carry out theoretical
investigations on this topic by focusing on the Fe K$alpha$ fluorescent lines
produced from super-Eddington disks, and show that their profiles are shaped by
the funnel geometry and wind acceleration. We also systematically compare the
Fe line profiles from super-Eddington thick disks to those from thin disks, and
find that the former are substantially more blueshifted and symmetric in shape.
Therefore, careful analysis of the Fe K$alpha$ line profile can be used to
identify systems undergoing super-Eddington accretion.
X-ray reverberation has proven to be a powerful tool capable of probing the
innermost region of accretion disks around compact objects. Current theoretical
effort generally assumes that the disk is geometrically thin, optically thick
and orbiting with Keplerian speed. Thus, these models cannot be applied to
systems where super-Eddington accretion happens because the thin disk
approximation fails in this accretion regime. Furthermore, state-of-the-art
numerical simulations show that optically thick winds are launched from
super-Eddington accretion disks, and thereby changing the reflection geometry
significantly from the thin disk picture. We carry out theoretical
investigations on this topic by focusing on the Fe K$alpha$ fluorescent lines
produced from super-Eddington disks, and show that their profiles are shaped by
the funnel geometry and wind acceleration. We also systematically compare the
Fe line profiles from super-Eddington thick disks to those from thin disks, and
find that the former are substantially more blueshifted and symmetric in shape.
Therefore, careful analysis of the Fe K$alpha$ line profile can be used to
identify systems undergoing super-Eddington accretion.
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