Comptonization and Time-lags in Multi-Temperature Plasmas Surrounding Compact Objects

Abstract

"This paper investigates a recent model proposed by Moskalenko, Collmar and Schönfelder (1998) for the plasma surrounding galactic black hole candidates. Using a linear Monte Carlo code, the spectral and temporal behavior of the model is found for the case where the plasma geometry consists of a hot shell surrounding a cooler spherical core. The spectrum produced by this model at X-ray and gamma-ray energies is obtained numerically. Also found for the first time in this geometry are the photon time-lags between two energy bands due to rapid aperiodic variability. It is argued that the time-lag information may be able to determine whether this particular geometry is a realistic model for the material surrounding galactic black hole candidates."