Open AccessTesting models of X‐ray reflection from irradiated discs
Author(s) -
Done C.,
Nayakshin S.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-8711.2001.04917.x
Subject(s) - physics , astrophysics , spectral line , accretion (finance) , ionization , black hole (networking) , active galactic nucleus , reflection (computer programming) , orbit (dynamics) , astronomy , galaxy , ion , computer network , routing protocol , routing (electronic design automation) , engineering , quantum mechanics , computer science , programming language , link state routing protocol , aerospace engineering
We model the reflected spectrum expected from localized magnetic flares above an ionized accretion disc. We concentrate on the case of very luminous magnetic flares above a standard accretion disc extending down to the last stable orbit, and use a simple parametrization to allow for an X‐ray‐driven wind. Full disc spectra including relativistic smearing are calculated. When fitted with the constant‐density reflection models, these spectra give both a low reflected fraction and a small linewidth as seen in the hard spectra from galactic black hole binaries and active galactic nuclei. We fit our calculated spectra to real data from the low/hard state of Nova Muscae and Cyg X‐1 and show that these models give comparable χ 2 to those obtained from the constant‐density reflection models, which implied a truncated disc. This explicitly demonstrates that the data are consistent either with magnetic flares above an ionized disc extending down to the last stable orbit around a black hole, or with non‐ionized, truncated discs.