Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2011-05-11
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
7 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS
Scientific paper
Long X-ray observations of bright Active Galactic Nuclei show that X-ray eclipses, with durations from a few hours to a few days, are rather common. This opens up a new window of opportunity in the search for signatures of relativistic effects in AGNs: an obscuring cloud covers/uncovers different parts of the accretion disc at different times, allowing a direct check of the expected pattern of disc emission. In particular, the combination of gravitational redshift and relativistic Doppler boosting should imply strong differences between the receding and approaching parts of an inclined thin disc. At present, these effects may be already detectable with a "lucky" XMM-Newton or Suzaku observation of a complete eclipse by a Compton-thick cloud (a rare, but not impossible-to-see event). In the future, higher sensitivity observatories will be able to perform these tests easily on tens of AGNs. This will provide a powerful and direct way to test extreme gravity, and to probe the structure of AGNs in the close vicinity of the central black holes.
Brenneman Laura
Elvis Martin
Nardini Emanuele
Risaliti Guido
Salvati Marco
No associations
LandOfFree
Probing general relativistic effects during AGN X-ray eclipses 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 Probing general relativistic effects during AGN X-ray eclipses, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Probing general relativistic effects during AGN X-ray eclipses will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-496007