The close environments of supermassive black holes with Athena
Abstract
X-ray observations of Active Galactic Nuclei reveal the innermost regions within a few tens of gravitational radii from the central supermassive black hole. Athena, with its large effective area, excellent energy resolution, and L2 orbit, will make fundamental and unique contributions to our understanding of the physics of accretion in AGN. Athena will allow us to map the disc-corona geometry, through unprecedented measurements of X-ray reverberation lags. This is crucial in understanding how energy is extracted from the black hole and what the relationship of the corona is to winds and jets. We will be able to make the most robust measurements of black hole spin in the nearby universe and beyond, which is central to understanding the accretion history of supermassive black holes. The increased effective area and fine energy resolution will enable various spectral components to be deconvolved, separating out the broad features from the innermost disc, and the narrow emission lines components from more distant matter. These clear measurements of distant material, and the inflowing/outflowing gas will provide a link between the close environment of the supermassive black hole and its host galaxy.
- Publication:
-
40th COSPAR Scientific Assembly
- Pub Date:
- 2014
- Bibcode:
- 2014cosp...40E1386K