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The Analogous Structure of Accretion Flows in Supermassive and Stellar Mass Black Holes: New Insights from Faded Changing-Look Quasars

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arxiv 1903.02553 v3 pith:CANIYPP4 submitted 2019-03-06 astro-ph.HE

classification astro-ph.HE
keywords x-rayaccretionblackbinarieseddingtonholealphabinary
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Despite their factor of ~10^8 difference in black hole mass, several lines of evidence suggest possible similarities between black hole accretion flows in active galactic nuclei (AGN) and Galactic X-ray binaries. However, it is still unclear whether the geometry of the disk-corona system in X-ray binaries directly scale up to AGN, and whether this analogy still holds in different accretion states. We test this AGN/X-ray binary analogy, by comparing the observed correlations between the UV-to-X-ray spectral index (alpha_OX) and Eddington ratio in AGN to those predicted from observations of X-ray binary outbursts. This approach probes the geometry of their disk-corona systems as they transition between different accretion states. We use new Chandra X-ray and ground-based rest-UV observations of faded 'changing-look' quasars to extend this comparison to lower Eddington ratios of <10^-2, where observations of X-ray binaries predict a softening of alpha_OX in AGN. We find that the observed correlations between alpha_OX and Eddington ratio of AGN displays a remarkable similarity to accretion state transitions in prototypical X-ray binary outbursts, including an inversion of this correlation at a critical Eddington ratio of ~10^-2. Our results suggest that the structures of black hole accretion flows directly scale across a factor of ~10^8 in black hole mass and across different accretion states, enabling us to apply theoretical models of X-ray binaries to explain AGN phenomenology.

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Cited by 6 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

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