X-ray Evidence for Supermassive Black Holes at the Centers of Nearby Galaxies

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dc.creatorKomossa, Stefanie
dc.date2002-08-31
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T06:31:56Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T06:31:56Z
dc.descriptionWe first present a short overview of X-ray probes of the black hole region of active galaxies (AGN) and then concentrate on the X-ray search for supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in optically non-active galaxies. The first part focuses on recent results from the X-ray observatories Chandra and XMM-Newton which detected a wealth of new spectral features which originate in the nuclear region of AGN. In the last few years, giant-amplitude, non-recurrent X-ray flares have been observed from several non-active galaxies. All of them share similar properties, namely: extreme X-ray softness in outburst, huge peak luminosity (up to ~10^{44} erg/s), and the absence of optical signs of Seyfert activity. Tidal disruption of a star by a supermassive black hole is the favored explanation of these unusual events. The second part provides a review of the initial X-ray observations, follow-up studies,and the relevant aspects of tidal disruption models studied in the literature.
dc.descriptionLudwig-Biermann Award Lecture, to appear in: Reviews in Modern Astronomy 15, R. Schielicke (ed.), Springer-Verlag, p. 27-56 (2002); preprint incl. full-size figures is available at http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/~skomossa/
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0209007
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0209007
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/98759
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.titleX-ray Evidence for Supermassive Black Holes at the Centers of Nearby Galaxies
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