Time-dependent X-ray spectra of Compton-cooled plasmas

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Abstract
Transmitted and reflected spectra of radiation Compton scattered by hot gas (kTe ≃ 10 and 511 keV) have been computed by two independent and complementary methods. A range of optical depths and of initial temperatures have been used and the gas temperature has been allowed to drop in response to Compton cooling. Some analytical methods are discussed in the case where the Compton cooling time exceeds the photon diffusion time across the gas. We show that quasi-power-law spectra always result from Comptonization whenever a significant fraction of the thermal energy of the gas is transferred to the radiation field. Our results have applications to compact galactic X-ray sources, active galactic nuclei and X- and γ-ray bursts.

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