Reprocessing of Soft X-ray Emission Lines in Black Hole Accretion Disks

Journal Article · Fri Oct 17 00:00:00 EDT 2003 · Astrophysical Journal

OSTI ID:15013781

Mauche, C W; Liedahl, D A; Mathiesen, B F; Jimenez-Garate, M A; Raymond, J C

By means of a Monte Carlo code that accounts for Compton scattering and photoabsorption followed by recombination, we have investigated the radiation transfer of Ly{alpha}, He{alpha}, and recombination continua photons of H- and He-like C, N, O, and Ne produced in the photoionized atmosphere of a relativistic black hole accretion disk. We find that photoelectric opacity causes significant attenuation of photons with energies above the O VIII K-edge; that the conversion efficiencies of these photons into lower-energy lines and recombination continua are high; and that accounting for this reprocessing significantly (by factors of 21% to 105%) increases the flux of the Ly{alpha} and He{alpha} emission lines of H- and He-like C and O escaping the disk atmosphere.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 15013781
• Report Number(s): UCRL-JRNL-200529; ASJOAB; TRN: US0801278
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 606; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS//MATHEMATICS, COMPUTING, AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUMM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ACCRETION DISKS
ATTENUATION
BLACK HOLES
COMPTON EFFECT
OPACITY
PHOTONS
RADIATIONS
RECOMBINATION
REPROCESSING