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T.J. Maccarone, E. Gallo (University of Amsterdam), R.P. Fender (University of Southampton)
It has long been known that black holes in X-ray binaries exhibit spectral states - qualitatively distinct sets of X-ray spectral and variability properties. Recent work has helped to establish that these states are also well correlated with the systems' radio properties, with a key result being that the soft spectral states seen at a few percent of the Eddington luminosity show strongly suppressed radio emission. Additionally, it is now shown that the radio luminosity, X-ray luminosity and mass of a black hole form a fundamental plane. In this contribution, we draw together numerous previous results to show that these spectral state are likely to exist in AGN as well; once one corrects for the effects of black hole mass, a clear downturn is seen in the ratio of radio-to-X-ray luminosities. Furthermore, the majority of the systems seen in this luminosity range show soft excesses in their X-ray spectra. This result adds to the growing body of evidence that AGN exhibit very similar spectral state phenomenology as do X-ray binaries.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 5
© 2004. The American Astronomical Society.