2014/07/28 by Tomaso M. Belloni, Luigi Stella
Physics and Astronomy · #Accretion (finance) #Accretion disc #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Observational study #Phenomenology (philosophy) #Planetary science #astro-ph.HE
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s11214-014-0076-0
20 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in Space Science Reviews. Also to appear in hard cover in the Space Sciences Series of ISSI "The Physics of Accretion onto Black Holes" (Springer Publisher)
arxiv created 2014/07/28 · openalex publication_date 2014/08/01 · arxiv updated 2015/06/22 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Currently available information on fast variability of the X-ray emission from accreting collapsed objects constitutes a complex phenomenology which is difficult to interpret. We review the current observational standpoint for black-hole binaries and survey models that have been proposed to interpret it. Despite the complex structure of the accretion flow, key observational diagnostics have been identified which can provide direct access to the dynamics of matter motions in the close vicinity of black holes and thus to the some of fundamental properties of curved spacetimes, where strong-field general relativistic effects can be observed.