Séminaire IPAG

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Decoding the multi-wavelength emission of accreting black holes in X-ray binaries

jeudi 12 octobre 2023 - 11h00

Julien Malzac - IRAP
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Black hole X-ray binaries consist of a stellar mass black hole in interaction with a companion star. They offer a unique opportunity to study relativistic accretion and ejection processes. These are nearby systems that are easy to observe and, unlike active galactic nuclei, evolve on human time scales. Usually in a quiescent state, they occasionally enter an eruptive phase that usually last for a few months. In these active phases, they radiate across the whole electromagnetic spectrum (from radio to gamma-rays) and their luminosity increases by many orders of magnitude. This makes it possible to probe a wide range of accretion regimes. A complex phenomenology has gradually been established showing a typical evolution of the spectral and variability patterns during an outburst. This also includes the episodic detection of various forms of powerful outflows (disc winds, steady compact jets or discrete ejections) closely linked to the physical state of the accretion flow. I will present the broad physical picture emerging form these observations and I will discuss phenomenological models that were recently developed to interpret the observed spectral and timing properties, constrain the physical conditions in the environment of a black hole, and may also help us to connect the observations with dynamical models and numerical simulations.

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Hôtes : Jonathan Ferreira

Salle Manuel Forestini, 414 rue de la piscine, 38400 Saint Martin d'Hères