Line Profiles from a Disk around a Rotating Black Hole

The present calculations of line profiles emitted from an accretion disk around a rotating black hole were conducted for a number of line emissivity laws and with emphasis on cases where most of the flux has its origin in the inner regions of the disk. Most emissivity laws produce a broad, single-peaked line; the line is significantly asymmetric in most cases, with a deep blue wing and an extended red wing. The line peak is in most cases blueshifted, and such strong relativistic effects as a blueshift of over 30 percent are uniquely associated with rotating black holes. Since extant observations show no such effects, most of the observed line is generated outside the innermost disk.