[16.01] Probing strong gravity and extreme astrophysics around black holes with Constellation-X

AAS 207th Meeting, 8-12 January 2006
Session 16 Example Constellation-X Science
Poster, Monday, 9:20am-7:00pm, January 9, 2006, Exhibit Hall

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[16.01] Probing strong gravity and extreme astrophysics around black holes with Constellation-X

C.S. Reynolds (University of Maryland, College Park), A.J. Young (MIT), A.C. Fabian (University of Cambridge), Con-X AGN Science Team

Some black hole systems display a relativistically broadened iron emission line in their spectrum, presumably due to fluorescence in the surface layers of the inner regions of the accretion disk. Constellation-X will allow us to observe variability in this line due to the orbital motions of inhomogenieties in the disk as well as reverberation effects (i.e., the light echo of short/intense flares across the accretion disk). We will show how these phenomena can be used as a quantitative probe of black hole mass, spin and (possibly) the validity of General Relativity.

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