Spin and Accretion Rate Dependence of Black Hole X-Ray Spectra

We present a survey of how the spectral features of black hole X-ray binary systems depend on spin, accretion rate, viewing angle, and Fe abundance when predicted on the basis of first-principles physical calculations. The power-law component hardens with increasing spin. The thermal component strengthens with increasing accretion rate. The Compton bump is enhanced by higher accretion rate and lower spin. The Fe Kα equivalent width grows sublinearly with Fe abundance. Strikingly, the Kα profile is more sensitive to accretion rate than to spin because its radial surface brightness profile is relatively flat, and higher accretion rate extends the production region to smaller radii. The overall radiative efficiency is at least 30%–100% greater than as predicted by the Novikov–Thorne model.

Slowly rotating black holes in the novel Einstein–Maxwell-scalar theory

We investigate a slowly rotating black hole solution in a novel Einstein–Maxwell-scalar theory, which is prompted by the classification of general Einstein–Maxwell-scalar theory. The gyromagnetic ratio of this black hole is calculated, and it increases as the second free parameter $$\beta $$ β increases, but decreases with the increasing parameter $$\gamma \equiv \frac{2 \alpha ^{2}}{1+\alpha ^2}$$ γ ≡ 2 α 2 1 + α 2 . In the Einstein–Maxwell-dilaton (EMD) theory, the parameter $$\beta $$ β vanishes but the free parameter $$\alpha $$ α governing the strength of the coupling between the dilaton and the Maxwell field remains. The gyromagnetic ratio is always less than 2, the well-known value for a Kerr–Newman (KN) black hole as well as for a Dirac electron. Scalar hairs reduce the magnetic dipole moment in dilaton theory, resulting in a drop in the gyromagnetic ratio. However, we find that the gyromagnetic ratio of two can be realized in this Einstein–Maxwell-scalar theory by increasing $$\beta $$ β and the charge-to-mass ratio Q/M simultaneously (recall that the gyromagnetic ratio of KN black holes is independent of Q/M). The same situation also applies to the angular velocity of a locally non-rotating observer. Moreover, we analyze the period correction for circular orbits in terms of charge-to-mass ratio, as well as the correction of the radius of the innermost stable circular orbits. It is found the correction increases with $$\beta $$ β but decreases with Q/M. Finally, the total radiative efficiency is investigated, and it can vanish once the effect of rotation is considered.

Effect of Au substrate and coating on the lasing characteristics of GaAs nanowires

Optically pumped lasing from highly Zn-doped GaAs nanowires lying on an Au film substrate and from Au-coated nanowires has been demonstrated up to room temperature. The conically shaped GaAs nanowires were first coated with a 5 nm thick Al2O3 shell to suppress atmospheric oxidation and band-bending effects. Doping with a high Zn concentration increases both the radiative efficiency and the material gain and leads to lasing up to room temperature. A detailed analysis of the observed lasing behavior, using finite-difference time domain simulations, reveals that the lasing occurs from low loss hybrid modes with predominately photonic character combined with electric field enhancement effects. Achieving low loss lasing from NWs on an Au film and from Au coated nanowires opens new prospects for on-chip integration of nanolasers with new functionalities including electro-optical modulation, conductive shielding, and polarization control.

The Origin of Radio Emission in Black Hole X-ray Binaries

We studied the relation of accretion-jet power and disk luminosity, especially the jet efficiencies and disk radiative efficiencies for different accretion disks as well as black hole (BH) spin, in order to explore the origin of radio emission in black hole X-ray binaries (BHXBs). We found that jet efficiency increases more rapidly (efficient) than the nearly constant disk radiative efficiency for thin disk component in high accretion regime, which could account for the steep track (μ>1) in the observed radio and X-ray luminosity relations (LR∝LXμ), but the thin disk component may not be able to explain the standard track (μ≈0.6) in the BHXBs. For hot accretion flows (HAF), the resulting jet efficiency changes along with the large range of accretions from quiescent state to nearly Eddington state, which could account for the standard track in the BHXBs. The BH spin-jet is discussed for the magnetic arrested disk (MAD) state; in this state, the spin-jet power might contribute to a linear correlation between jet power and mass accretion rate for a given source. More accurate observations are required to test the results.

Aerosol radiative impact during the summer 2019 heatwave produced partly by an inter-continental Saharan dust outbreak – Part 2: Long-wave and net dust direct radiative effect

This paper is the companion paper of Córdoba-Jabonero et al. (2021). It deals with the estimation of the longwave (LW) and net dust direct radiative effect (DRE) during the dust episode that occurred between 23 and 30 June, 2019, and coincided with a mega-heatwave. The analysis is performed at two European sites where polarized-Micro-Pulse Lidars ran continuously to retrieve the vertical distribution of the dust optical properties: Barcelona, Spain, 23–30 June, and Leipzig, Germany, 29–30 June. The radiative effect is computed with the GAME radiative transfer model separately for the fine- and coarse-mode dust. The instantaneous and daily radiative effect and radiative efficiency (DREff) are provided for the fine-mode, coarse-mode and total dust at the surface, top of the atmosphere (TOA) and in the atmosphere. The fine-mode daily LW DRE is small (< 6 % of the shortwave (SW) component) which makes the coarse-mode LW DRE the main modulator of the total dust net DRE. The coarse-mode LW DRE starts exceeding (in absolute values) the SW component in the middle of the episode which produces positive coarse-mode net DRE at both the surface and TOA. Such an unusual tendency is attributed to increasing coarse-mode size and surface temperature along the episode. This has the effect of reducing the SW cooling in Barcelona up to the point of reaching total dust net DRE positive (+0.9 W m−2) on one occasion at the surface and quasi-neutral (−0.6 W m−2) at TOA. When adding the LW component, the total dust SW radiative efficiency is reduced by a factor 1.6 at both surface (on average over the episode, the total dust net DREff is −54.1 W m−2 τ−1) and TOA (−37.3 W m−2 τ−1). A sensitivity study performed on the surface temperature and the air temperature in the dust layer, both linked to the heatwave and upon which the LW DRE strongly depends, shows that the heatwave contributed to reduce the dust net cooling effect at the surface and that it had nearly no effect at TOA. Its subsequent effect was thus to reduce the heating of the atmosphere produced by the dust particles.

The influence of variable emissivity on lava flow propagation modeling

Modeling lava flow propagation is important to determine potential hazards to local populations. Thermo-rheological models such as PyFLOWGO track downflow cooling and rheological responses for open-channel, cooling-limited flows. The dominant radiative cooling component is governed partly by the lava emissivity, which is a material property that governs the radiative efficiency. Emissivity is commonly treated as a constant in cooling models, but is shown here to vary with temperature. To establish the effect of temperature on emissivity, high spatiotemporal, multispectral thermal infrared data were acquired of a small flow emplaced from a tumulus. An inverse correlation between temperature and emissivity was found, which was then integrated into the PyFLOWGO model. Incorporating a temperature-dependent emissivity term results in a ∼5% increase in flow length and < 75% lower total cumulative heat flux for the small flow. To evaluate the scalability of this relationship, we applied the modified PyFLOWGO model to simulations of the 2018 Lower East Rift Zone fissure 8 flow, emplaced between May 27 and June 3. Our model improves the emplacement match because of the ~ 30% lower heat flux resulting in a ∼7% longer flow compared to modeling using a constant emissivity (0.95). This 5–7% increase in length prior to ocean entry, realized by an accurate temperature-dependent emissivity term, is critical for developing the most accurate model of future flow hazard assessments, particularly if population centers lie in the flow’s path.