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Title: "The evolution of black-hole binaries"

Tomaso Belloni
INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera
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When:  Thursday, October 20th at noon
Where: 2nd Floor Seminar Room

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Abstract:

The past decade has seen an incredible increase in the amount
of available X-ray data of black-hole binaries, thanks to the
RossiXTE satellite. At the same time, the development of solid
multi-wavelength programs has led to the discovery of relativistic
jets from these systems and their complex relation to the accretion
properties. Although the phenomenology appears at first sight to be
intractable, delving into the trove of available data and using
appropriate tools, it is possible to reach basic conclusions about
the spectral/timing behavior during the outburst of transient systems.
The analysis of all black-hole transient data in the RXTE archive in
terms of spectral hardness and fast time variability shows that,
despite large differences in time evolution, all systems follow
a similar structure in their outburst. A small number of source
states is identified, with emphasis on their fast transitions.
I will describe the unified picture that we have reached for transients
and how it can be connected to the properties of jet ejection. This
paradigm can be applied also to persistent systems such as Cygnus X-1,
neutron-star binaries and even to Active Galactic Nuclei. Based on
this paradigm, I will also present results on the recent RXTE/INTEGRAL
campaign on GX 339-4.