Interpreting the High Frequency QPO Power Spectra of Accreting Black Holes

Details Interpreting the High Frequency QPO Power Spectra of Accreting Black Holes Interpreting the High Frequency QPO Power Spectra of Accreting Black Holes

2004-07-08

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0407179v1

Astrophys.J. 621 (2005) 940-950

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

30 pages, 5 figures, submitted to ApJ

Scientific paper

10.1086/427646

In the context of a relativistic hot spot model, we investigate different physical mechanisms to explain the behavior of quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) from accreting black holes. The locations and amplitudes of the QPO peaks are determined by the ray-tracing calculations presented in Schnittman & Bertschinger (2004a): the black hole mass and angular momentum give the geodesic coordinate frequencies, while the disk inclination and the hot spot size, shape, and overbrightness give the amplitudes of the different peaks. In this paper additional features are added to the existing model to explain the broadening of the QPO peaks as well as the damping of higher frequency harmonics in the power spectrum. We present a number of analytic results that closely agree with more detailed numerical calculations. Four primary pieces are developed: the addition of multiple hot spots with random phases, a finite width in the distribution of geodesic orbits, Poisson sampling of the detected photons, and the scattering of photons from the hot spot through a corona of hot electrons around the black hole. Finally, the complete model is used to fit the observed power spectra of both type A and type B QPOs seen in XTE J1550-564, giving confidence limits on each of the model parameters.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Interpreting the High Frequency QPO Power Spectra of Accreting Black Holes does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Interpreting the High Frequency QPO Power Spectra of Accreting Black Holes, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Interpreting the High Frequency QPO Power Spectra of Accreting Black Holes will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-221759