Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
May 2000
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2000apj...534..718n&link_type=abstract
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 534, Issue 2, pp. 718-722.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
43
Accretion, Accretion Disks, Line: Formation, Radiation Mechanisms: Nonthermal, X-Rays: General
Scientific paper
We present a simple analytical formula for the Thomson depth of the X-ray-heated skin of accretion disks valid at any radius and for a broad range of spectral indices of the incident X-rays, accretion rates, and black hole masses. We expect that this formula may find useful applications in studies of geometry of the inner part of accretion flows around compact objects, and in several other astrophysically important problems, such as the recently observed X-ray ``Baldwin'' effect (i.e., monotonic decrease of the Fe line's equivalent width with the X-ray luminosity of active galactic nuclei [AGNs]), the problem of the missing Lyman edge in AGNs, and line and continuum variability studies in accretion disks around compact objects. We compute the reflected X-ray spectra for several representative cases and show that for hard X-ray spectra and large ionizing fluxes the skin represents a perfect mirror that does not produce any Fe lines or absorption features. At the same time, for soft X-ray spectra or small ionizing fluxes, the skin produces a very strong ionized absorption edge and highly ionized Fe lines that should be observable in the reflected spectra.
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