Broad Iron Lines in Active Galactic Nuclei
Top Cited Papers
Open Access
- 1 September 2000
- journal article
- research article
- Published by IOP Publishing in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
- Vol. 112 (775) , 1145-1161
- https://doi.org/10.1086/316610
Abstract
An intrinsically narrow line emitted by an accretion disk around a black hole appears broadened and skewed as a result of the Doppler effect and gravitational redshift. The fluorescent iron line in the X‐ray band at 6.4–6.9 keV is the strongest such line and is seen in the X‐ray spectrum of many active galactic nuclei and, in particular, Seyfert galaxies. It is an important diagnostic with which to study the geometry and other properties of the accretion flow very close to the central black hole. The broad iron line indicates the presence of a standard thin accretion disk in those objects, often seen at low inclination. The broad iron line has opened up strong gravitational effects around black holes to observational study with wide‐reaching consequences for both astrophysics and physics.Keywords
All Related Versions
This publication has 85 references indexed in Scilit:
- Magnetic Stress at the Marginally Stable Orbit: Altered Disk Structure, Radiation, and Black Hole Spin EvolutionThe Astrophysical Journal, 2000
- SimultaneousEUVE/ASCA/RXTEObservations of NGC 5548The Astrophysical Journal, 2000
- Concave accretion discs and X-ray reprocessingMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1999
- Plasma Ejection from Magnetic Flares and the X-Ray Spectrum of Cygnus X-1The Astrophysical Journal, 1999
- The inner edge of the accretion disk around a supermassive black holeNature, 1998
- A well-fed black holeNature, 1997
- Unified Models for Active Galactic Nuclei and QuasarsAnnual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 1993
- Abundances of the elements: Meteoritic and solarGeochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 1989
- K-fluorescence lines in spectra of X-ray binariesThe Astrophysical Journal, 1978
- Backscatter, anisotropy, and polarization of solar hard X-raysThe Astrophysical Journal, 1978