The X-ray emission from accreting black holes provides the perfect probe for testing the geometry, behaviour and conditions present in the innermost regions of the accretion flow. In this thesis I use X-ray spectral analysis to investigate the properties of accreting black holes that extend over several orders of magnitude in accretion rate (m˙ E) and black hole mass (MBH), from the stellar mass black holes in X-ray binary systems (XRBs)to the supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei(AGN). Firstly, through a survey of X-ray emission in the nuclei of nearby galaxies I show that the usefulness of the X-ray to optical line ratios as a Compton-thick diagnostic does not extend to low luminosity AGN, and instead these ratios may have more practical use in distinguishing between AGN and non-AGN emission processes. Secondly, and more importantly, the main focus of this thesis is upon the variability of the Comptonised power-law X-ray spectral component, and more specifically an examination of how the photon index
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:588879 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Skipper, Chris |
| Contributors | Mchardy, Ian |
| Publisher | University of Southampton |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/360394/ |
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