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At least 667 records · Page 37
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2013

A SWIFT SURVEY OF ACCRETION ONTO STELLAR-MASS BLACK HOLES

We present a systemic analysis of all of the stellar-mass black hole binaries (confirmed and candidate) observed by the Swift observatory up to 2010 June. The broad Swift bandpass enables a trace of disk evolution over an unprecedented range in flux and temperature. The final data sample consists of 476 X-ray spectra containing greater than 100 counts, in the 0.6-10 keV band. This is the largest sample of high-quality CCD spectra of accreting black holes published to date. In addition, strictly simultaneous data at optical/UV wavelengths are available for 255 (54%) of these observations. The data are modeled with a combination of an accretion disk and a hard spectral component. For the hard component we consider both a simple power-law model and a thermal Comptonization model. An accretion disk is detected at greater than the 5{sigma} confidence level in 61% of the observations. Light curves and color-color diagrams are constructed for each system. Hardness-luminosity and disk fraction-luminosity diagrams are constructed and are observed to be consistent with those typically observed by RXTE, noting the sensitivity below 2 keV provided by Swift. The observed spectra have an average luminosity of {approx}1% Eddington, though we are sensitive to accretion disks down to a luminosity of 10{sup -3} L{sub Edd}. Thus, this is also the largest sample of such cool accretion disks studied to date. The accretion disk temperature distribution displays two peaks consistent with the classical hard and soft spectral states, with a smaller number of disks distributed between these. The distribution of inner disk radii is observed to be continuous regardless of which model is used to fit the hard continua. There is no evidence for large-scale truncation of the accretion disk in the hard state (at least for L{sub x} {approx}> 10{sup -3} L{sub Edd}), with all of the accretion disks having radii {approx}< 40 R{sub g} . Plots of the accretion disk inner radius versus hardness ratio reveal the disk radius to be decreasing as the spectrum hardens, i.e., enters the hard state. This is in contrast to expectations from the standard disk truncation paradigm and points toward a contribution from spectral hardening. The availability of simultaneous X-ray and optical/UV data for a subset of observations facilitates a critical examination of the role of disk irradiation via a modified disk model with a variable emissivity profile (i.e., T(r){proportional_to}r {sup -p}). The broadband spectra (X-ray-optical/UV) reveal irradiation of the accretion disk to be an important effect at all luminosities sampled herein, i.e., p {approx}< 0.75 for luminosities {approx}> 10{sup -3} L{sub Edd}. The accretion disk is found to dominate the UV emission irrespective of the assumed hard spectral component. Overall, we find the broadband soft-state spectra to be consistent with an irradiated accretion disk plus a corona, but we are unable to make conclusive statements regarding the nature of the hard-state accretion flow (e.g., ADAF/corona versus jet). Finally, the Swift data reveal a relation between the flux emitted by the accretion disk and that emitted by the corona, for this sample of stellar-mass black holes, that is found to be in broad agreement with the observed disk-corona relationship in Seyfert galaxies, suggesting a scale invariant coupling between the accretion disk and the corona.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Modification to the Hawking temperature of a dynamical black hole by a flow-induced supertranslation

One interesting proposal to solve the black hole information loss paradox without modifying either general relativity or quantum field theory, is the soft hair, a diffeomorphism charge that records the anisotropic radiation in the asymptotic region. This proposal, however, has been challenged, given that away from the source the soft hair behaves as a coordinate transformation that forms an Abelian group, thus unable to store any information. To maintain the spirit of the soft hair but circumvent these obstacles, we consider Hawking radiation as a probe sensitive to the entire history of the black hole evaporation, where the soft hairs on the horizon are induced by the absorption of a null anisotropic flow, generalizing the shock wave considered in [1, 2]. To do so we introduce two different time-dependent extensions of the diffeomorphism associated with the soft hair, where one is the backreaction of the anisotropic null flow, and the other is a coordinate transformation that produces the Unruh effect and a Doppler shift to the Hawking spectrum. Together, they form an exact BMS charge generator on the entire manifold that allows the nonperturbative analysis of the black hole horizon, whose surface gravity, i.e. the Hawking temperature, is found to be modified. The modification depends on an exponential average of the anisotropy of the null flow with a decay rate of 4M, suggesting the emergence of a new 2-D degree of freedom on the horizon, which could be a way out of the information loss paradox.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
NASA NTRS2007

Binary Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and Numerical Relativity

The final merger of two black holes releases a tremendous amount of energy and is one of the brightest sources in the gravitational wave sky. Observing these sources with gravitational wave detectors requires that we know the radiation waveforms they emit. Since these mergers take place in regions of very strong gravitational fields, we need to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer in order to calculate these waveforms. For more than 30 years, scientists have tried to compute these waveforms using the methods of numerical relativity. The resulting computer codes have been plagued by instabilities, causing them to crash well before the black holes in the binary could complete even a single orbit. Recently this situation has changed dramatically, with a series of amazing breakthroughs. This talk will take you on this quest for the holy grail of numerical relativity, showing how a spacetime is constructed on a computer to build a simutation laboratory for binary black hole mergers. We will focus on the recent advances that are revealing these waveforms, and the dramatic new potential for discoveries that arises when these sources will be observed by LIGO and LISA.

Centrella, Joan↗
NASA NTRS2008

Binary Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and Numerical Relativity

The final merger of two black holes releases a tremendous amount of energy and is one of the brightest sources in the gravitational wave sky. Observing these sources with gravitational wave detectors requires that we know the radiation waveforms they emit. Since these mergers take place in regions of very strong gravitational fields, we need to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer in order to calculate these waveforms. For more than 30 years, scientists have tried to compute these waveforms using the methods of numerical relativity. The resulting computer codes have been plagued by instabilities. causing them to crash well before the black hole:, in the binary could complete even a single orbit. Recently this situation has changed dramatically, with a series of amazing breakthroughs. This talk will take you on this quest for the holy grail of numerical relativity, showing how a spacetime is constructed on a computer to build a simulation laboratory for binary black hole mergers. We will focus on the recent advances that are revealing these waveforms, and the dramatic new potential for discoveries that arises when these sources will be observed by LIGO and LISA.

Centrella, Joan↗
NASA NTRS2008

Binary Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and Numerical Relativity

The final merger of two black holes releases a tremendous amount of energy and is one of the brightest sources in the gravitational wave sky. Observing these sources with gravitational wave detectors requires that we know the radiation waveforms they emit. Since these mergers take place in regions of very strong gravitational fields, we need to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer in order to calculate these waveforms. For more than 30 years, scientists have tried to compute these waveforms using the methods of numerical relativity. The resulting computer codes have been plagued by instabilities, causing them to crash well before the black holes in the binary could complete even a single orbit. Recently this situation has changed dramatically, with a series of amazing breakthroughs. This talk will take you on this quest for the holy grail of numerical relativity, showing how a spacetime is constructed on a computer to build a simulation laboratory for binary black hole mergers. We will focus on the recent advances that are revealing these waveforms, and the dramatic new potential for discoveries that arises when these sources will be observed by LIGO and LISA.

Centrella, Joan↗
NASA NTRS2008

Binary Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and Numerical Relativity

The final merger of two black holes releases a tremendous amount of energy and is one of the brightest sources in the gravitational wave sky. Observing these sources with gravitational wave detectors requires that we know the radiation waveforms they emit. Since these mergers take place in regions of very strong gravitational fields. We need to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer in order to calculate these waveforms. For more than 30 years, scientists have tried to compute these waveforms using the methods of numerical relativity. The resulting computer codes have been plagued by instabilities, causing them to crash well before the black holes in the binary could complete even a single orbit. Recently this situation has changed dramatically, with a series of amazing breakthroughs. This talk will take you on this quest for the holy grail of numerical relativity, showing how a spacetime is constructed on a computer to build a simulation laboratory for binary black hole mergers. We will focus on the recent advances that are revealing these waveforms, and the dramatic new potential for discoveries that arises when these sources will be observed by LIGO and LISA.

Centrella, Joan↗
NASA NTRS2007

Binary Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and Numerical Relativity

The final merger of two black holes releases a tremendous amount of energy and is one of the brightest sources in the gravitational wave sky. Observing these sources with gravitational wave detectors requires that we know the radiation waveforms they emit. Since these mergers take place in regions of very strong gravitational fields, we need to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer in order to calculate these waveforms. For more than 30 years, scientists have tried to compute these waveforms using the methods of numerical relativity. The resulting computer codes have been plagued by instabilities, causing them to crash well before the black holes in the binary could complete even a single orbit. Recently this situation has changed dramatically, with a series of amazing breakthroughs. This talk will take you on this quest for the holy grail of numerical relativity, showing how a spacetime is constructed on a computer to build a simulation laboratory for binary black hole mergers. We will focus on the recent advances that are revealing these waveforms, and the dramatic new potential for discoveries that arises when these sources will be observed by LIGO and LISA

Centrella, Joan↗
NASA NTRS2007

Binary Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and Numerical Relativity

The final merger of two black holes releases a tremendous amount of energy and is one of the brightest sources in the gravitational wave sky. Observing these sources with gravitational wave detectors requires that we know the radiation waveforms they emit. Since these mergers take place in regions of very strong gravitational fields, we need to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer in order to calculate these waveforms. For more than 30 years, scientists have tried to compute these waveforms using the methods of numerical relativity. The resulting computer codes have been plagued by instabilities, causing them to crash well before the black holes in the binary could complete even a single orbit. Recently this situation has changed dramatically, with a series of amazing breakthroughs. This talk will take you on this quest for the holy grail of numerical relativity, showing how a spacetime is constructed on a computer to build a simulation laboratory for binary black hole mergers. We will focus on the recent advances that are revealing these waveforms, and the dramatic new potential for discoveries that arises when these sources will be observed by LIGO and LISA

Centrella, Joan↗
NASA NTRS2008

Binary Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and Numerical Relativity

The final merger of two black holes releases a tremendous amount of energy and is one of the brightest sources in the gravitational wave sky. Observing these sources with gravitational wave detectors requires that we know the radiation waveforms they emit. Since these mergers take place in regions of very strong gravitational fields, we need to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer in order to calculate these waveforms. For more than 30 years, scientists have tried to compute these waveforms using the methods of numerical relativity. The resulting computer codes have been plagued by instabilities, causing them to crash well before the black holes in the binary could complete even a single orbit. Recently this situation has changed dramatically, with a series of amazing breakthroughs. This talk will take you on this quest for the holy grail of numerical relativity, showing how a spacetime is constructed on a computer to build a simulation laboratory for binary black hole mergers. We will focus on the recent advances that are revealing these waveforms, and the dramatic new potential for discoveries that arises when these sources will be observed by LIGO and LISA.

Centrella, Joan↗
NASA NTRS2009

Binary Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and Numerical Relativity

The final merger of two black holes releases a tremendous amount of energy and is one of the brightest sources in the gravitational wave sky. Observing these sources with gravitational wave detectors requires that we know the radiation waveforms they emit. Since these mergers take place in regions of very strong gravitational fields, we need to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer in order to calculate these waveforms. For more than 30 years, scientists have tried to compute these waveforms using the methods of numerical relativity. The resulting computer codes have been plagued by instabilities, causing them to crash well before the black holes in the binary could complete even a single orbit. Recently this situation has changed dramatically, with a series of amazing breakthroughs. This talk will take you on this quest for the holy grail of numerical relativity, showing how a spacetime is constructed on a computer to build a simulation laboratory for binary black hole mergers. We will focus on the recent advances that are revealing these waveforms, and the dramatic new potential for discoveries that arises when these sources will be observed by LIGO and LISA.

Centrella, Joan↗
DOE OSTI2013

Semiclassical geons as solitonic black hole remnants

We find that the end state of black hole evaporation could be represented by non-singular and without event horizon stable solitonic remnants with masses of the order the Planck scale and up to ∼ 16 units of charge. Though these objects are locally indistinguishable from spherically symmetric, massive electric (or magnetic) charges, they turn out to be sourceless geons containing a wormhole generated by the electromagnetic field. Our results are obtained by interpreting semiclassical corrections to Einstein's theory in the first-order (Palatini) formalism, which yields second-order equations and avoids the instabilities of the usual (metric) formulation of quadratic gravity. We also discuss the potential relevance of these solutions for primordial black holes and the dark matter problem.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS2006

Binary Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and Numerical Relativity

The final merger of two black holes releases a tremendous amount of energy and is one of the brightest sources in the gravitational wave sky. Observing these sources with gravitational wave detectors requires that we know the radiation waveforms they emit. Since these mergers take place in regions of extreme gravity, we need to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer in order to calculate these waveforms. For more than 30 years, scientists have tried to compute these waveforms using the methods of numerical relativity. The resulting computer codes have been plagued by instabilities, causing them to crash well before the black holes in the binary could complete even a single orbit. This situation has changed dramatically in the past year, with a series of amazing breakthroughs. This talk will take you on this quest for the holy grail of numerical relativity, showing how a spacetime is constructed on a computer to build a simulation laboratory for binary black hole mergers. We will focus on the recent advances that are revealing these waveforms, and the dramatic new potential for discoveries that arises when these sources will be observed by LISA and LIGO.

Centrella, Joan↗
DOE OSTI2011

Equality between gravitational and electromagnetic absorption cross sections of extreme Reissner-Nordstroem black holes

The absorption cross section of Reissner-Nordstroem black holes for the gravitational field is computed numerically, taking into account the coupling of the electromagnetic and gravitational perturbations. Our results are in excellent agreement with low- and high-frequency approximations. We find equality between gravitational and electromagnetic absorption cross sections of extreme Reissner-Nordstroem black holes for all frequencies, which we explain analytically. This gives the first example of objects in general relativity in four dimensions that absorb the electromagnetic and gravitational waves in exactly the same way.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2012

THE DISK-WIND-JET CONNECTION IN THE BLACK HOLE H 1743-322

X-ray disk winds are detected in spectrally soft, disk-dominated phases of stellar-mass black hole outbursts. In contrast, compact, steady, relativistic jets are detected in spectrally hard states that are dominated by non-thermal X-ray emission. Although these distinctive outflows appear to be almost mutually exclusive, it is possible that a disk wind persists in hard states but cannot be detected via X-ray absorption lines owing to very high ionization. Here, we present an analysis of a deep, 60 ks Chandra/HETGS observation of the black hole candidate H 1743-322 in the low/hard state. The spectrum shows no evidence of a disk wind, with tight limits, and within the range of ionizing flux levels that were measured in prior Chandra observations wherein a wind was clearly detected. In H 1743-322, at least, disk winds are actually diminished in the low/hard state, and disk winds and jets are likely state dependent and anti-correlated. These results suggest that although the launching radii of winds and jets may differ by orders of magnitude, they may both be tied to a fundamental property of the inner accretion flow, such as the mass accretion rate and/or the magnetic field topology of the disk. We discuss these results in the context of disk winds and jets in other stellar-mass black holes, and possible launching mechanisms for black hole outflows.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Mass of dyonic black holes and entropy super-additivity

We study extremal static dyonic black holes in four-dimensional Einstein–Maxwell–Dilaton theory, for general values of the constant a in the exponential coupling e aΦ of the dilaton to the Maxwell kinetic term. Explicit solutions are known only for a = 0, a = 1 and a=$\sqrt3$, and for general a when the electric and magnetic charges Q and P are equal. We obtain solutions as power series expansions around Q = P, in terms of a small parameter c=a -1 log(Q/P). Using these, and also solutions constructed numerically, we test a relation between the mass and the charges that had been conjectured long ago by Rasheed. We find that although the conjecture is not exactly correct it is in fact quite accurate for a wide range of the black hole parameters. We investigate some improved conjectures for the mass relation. We also study the circumstances under which entropy super-additivity, which is related to Hawking's area theorem, is violated. This extends beyond previous examples exhibited in the literature for the particular case of a=$\sqrt3$ dyonic black holes.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Phase transition and entropy inequality of noncommutative black holes in a new extended phase space

We analyze the thermodynamics of the noncommutative high-dimensional Schwarzschild-Tangherlini AdS black hole with the non-Gaussian smeared matter distribution by regarding a noncommutative parameter as an independent thermodynamic variable named as the noncommutative pressure . In the new extended phase space that includes this noncommutative pressure and its conjugate variable, we reveal that the noncommutative pressure and the original thermodynamic pressure related to the negative cosmological constant make the opposite effects in the phase transition of the noncommutative black hole, i.e. the former dominates the UV regime while the latter does the IR regime, respectively. In addition, by means of the reverse isoperimetric inequality, we indicate that only the black hole with the Gaussian smeared matter distribution holds the maximum entropy for a given thermodynamic volume among the noncommutative black holes with various matter distributions.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Phantom black holes and critical phenomena

We consider the two classes cosh and sinh of normal and phantom black holes of Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton theory. The thermodynamics of these holes is characterized by heat capacities that may have both signs depending on the parameters of the theory. Leaving aside the normal Reissner-Nordström black hole, it is shown that only some phantom black holes of both classes exhibit critical phenomena. The two classes share a nonextremality, but special, critical point where the transition is continuous and the heat capacity, at constant charge, changes sign with an infinite discontinuity. This point yields a classification scheme for critical points. It is concluded that the two unstable and stable phases coexist on one side of the criticality state and disappear on the other side, that is, there is no configuration where only one phase exists. The sinh class has an extremality critical point where the entropy diverges. The transition from extremality to nonextremality with the charge held constant is accompanied by a loss of mass and an increase in the temperature. A special case of this transition is when the hole is isolated (microcanonical ensemble), it will evolve by emission of energy, which results in a decrease of its mass, to the final state of minimum mass and vanishing heat capacity. The Ehrenfest scheme of classification is inaccurate in this case but the generalized one due to Hilfer leads to conclude that the transition is of order less than unity. Fluctuations near criticality are also investigated.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Dynamical Friction and the Evolution of Supermassive Black Hole Binaries: The Final Hundred-parsec Problem

The supermassive black holes originally in the nuclei of two merging galaxies will form a binary in the remnant core. The early evolution of the massive binary is driven by dynamical friction before the binary becomes “hard” and eventually reaches coalescence through gravitational-wave emission. We consider the dynamical friction evolution of massive binaries consisting of a secondary hole orbiting inside a stellar cusp dominated by a more massive central black hole. In our treatment, we include the frictional force from stars moving faster than the inspiralling object, which is neglected in the standard Chandrasekhar treatment. We show that the binary eccentricity increases if the stellar cusp density profile rises less steeply than ρ∝r{sup −2}. In cusps shallower than ρ∝r{sup −1}, the frictional timescale can become very long due to the deficit of stars moving slower than the massive body. Although including fast stars increases the decay rate, low mass-ratio binaries (q≲10{sup −3}) in sufficiently massive galaxies have decay timescales longer than one Hubble time. During such minor mergers, the secondary hole stalls on an eccentric orbit at a distance of order one-tenth the influence radius of the primary hole (i.e., ≈10--100 pc for massive ellipticals). We calculate the expected number of stalled satellites as a function of the host galaxy mass and show that the brightest cluster galaxies should have ≳1 of such satellites orbiting within their cores. Our results could provide an explanation for a number of observations, which include multiple nuclei in core ellipticals, off-center AGNs, and eccentric nuclear disks.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗