xillver: reflection of a power-law from an illuminated accretion disk.

Note that this page has now been superseded by the xillver web page.

This table model provides a new and complete library of synthetic spectra for modeling the component of emission that is reflected from an illuminated accretion disk. The spectra were computed using an updated version of XILLVER that incorporates new routines and a richer atomic data base. Each individual model is characterized by the photon index Γ of the illuminating radiation, the ionization parameter ξ at the surface of the disk (i.e., the ratio of the X-ray flux to the gas density), and the iron abundance AFe relative to the solar value. The ranges of the parameters covered are: 1.2 ≤ Γ ≤ 3.4, 1 ≤ ξ ≤ 104, and 0.5 ≤ AFe ≤ 10. These ranges capture the physical conditions typically inferred from observations of active galactic nuclei, and also stellar-mass black holes in the hard state. This library is intended for use when the thermal disk flux is faint compared to the incident power-law flux. The models are expected to provide an accurate description of the Fe K emission line, which is the crucial spectral feature used to measure black hole spin. A total of 720 reflection spectra are provided in xillver.fits, a single table model file suitable for the analysis of X-ray observations via the atable model in XSPEC.

Full details of the model can be found in Garcia, J. et al., 2013, ApJ in press (arXiv:1303.2112).

Model parameters are:

  • Gamma (photon index). Valid range: 1.2 -> 3.4. Stepsize: 0.2.

  • Xi (ionization parameter). Valid range 1.0 -> 5.0e4. 15 values.

  • A_Fe (iron abundance). Valid range: 0.5 -> 10.0. 4 values.

  • Normalization.


Keith Arnaud, Lab. for High Energy Astrophysics, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

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Last modified: Tuesday, 18-Mar-2014 13:21:07 EDT