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Pinpointing the base of the AGN jets through general relativistic X-ray reverberation studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2015

D. Emmanoulopoulos
D. Emmanoulopoulos*
Affiliation:
Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, SO17 1BJ, Southampton, UK email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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Many theoretical models of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) predict that the X-ray corona, lying above the black hole, constitutes the base of the X-ray jet. Thus, by studying the exact geometry of the close black hole environment, we can pinpoint the launching site of the jet. Detection of negative X-ray reverberation time delays (i.e. soft band X-ray variations lagging behind the corresponding hard band X-ray variations) can yield significant information about the geometrical properties of the AGN, such as the location of the X-ray source, as well as the physical properties of the the black hole, such as its mass and spin. In the frame-work of the lamp-post geometry, I present the first systematic X-ray time-lag modelling results of an ensemble of 12 AGN, using a fully general relativistic (GR) ray tracing approach for the estimation of the systems' response functions. By combing these state-of-the art GR response models with statistically innovative fitting routines, I derive the geometrical layout of the close BH environment for each source, unveiling the position of the AGN jet-base.

Keywords

galaxies: activegalaxies: nucleigalaxies: jetsX-rays: galaxiesaccretionaccretion disksblack hole physicsrelativistic processes
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 10 , Issue S313: Extragalactic jets from every angle , September 2014 , pp. 346 - 351
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2015 

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