| Popis: |
The last ten years have seen significant progress have seen major improvements in our ability to observe and characterize the X‐ray emission from black hole systems. In particular, the arrival of a new generation of X‐ray satellites that combine large collection area, broad energy response, and flexible monitoring ability (starting with RXTE, BeppoSax, INTEGRAL, and culminating with Suzaku and Swift) finally enables us to begin to uniquely probe the rapidly changing physical conditionsin the plasma near a black hole, on timescales from milliseconds to years. I review our current understanding of these conditions, with an eye towards stimulating discussions with laboratory colleagues who have access to (still) much better diagnostics. |
