Astrophysics Lunch

Barry Wardell (Cornell) will discuss xTensor

Ye-Fei Yuan (Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China) Title: Black holes with high accretion rates: theories and observations Abstract: Slim disks are the accretion flow surrounding black holes with high accretion rates. We have investigated the global properties of relativistic slim accretion disks, and have calculated the resulting emergent spectra using the relativistic ray-tracing method. The main effect on the emergent spectra we have found is the self-shadowing of disks due to their thickness. Consequently, self-shadowing will influence the measurement of the spin of stellar black holes based on the spectra fitting. Application of this effect to the supermassive black holes with high accretion rates in Active Galactic Nuclei are also discussed.