Olivia Korensky
Pronouns: he/him
Research Mentor(s): Mark Reynolds
Co-Presenter:
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Astronomy / LSA
Presentation Date: April 20
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: Session 1 – 10am – 10:50am
Room: League Ballroom
Authors: Mark Reynolds, Olivia Korensky
Presenter: 101
Abstract
Stellar-mass black hole binaries provide optimal conditions for astrophysicists to study the structure of the innermost stable orbits of black hole accretion disks because these regions of the black hole emit distinct X-ray spectra. However, the X-ray emissions vary so much between each binary system that astrophysicists have not been able to describe the structure and behavior of these disks using a universal model. The goal of our research project, which is led by astrophysicist Dr. Mark Reynolds, is to identify patterns and correlations in the behavior of the innermost accretion disks of stellar-mass black holes. Each researcher would analyze spectra from the NASA database for different binaries, and the X-ray source I received is MAXI J1803-298. We first built the source code for HEASOFT and Xspec, software programs which fit X-ray spectra to combinations of theoretical models. I then used Xspec in Jupyter Notebook to fit and plot MAXI J1803-298’s X-ray spectra against theoretical models describing the behavior of black holes’ inner accretion disks. I will then use fitted models to plot changes in MAXI J1803-298’s accretion disks’ properties over 40 observational periods in Matplotlib, which is currently a work in progress. As of now, I have discovered that during its series of outbursts, the X-Ray spectra of MAXI J1803-298 evolved from resembling a powerlaw model to a diskbb model. We hope to not only learn about the behavior of MAXI J1803-298’s accretion disk, but to also compare data from each person’s X-ray source to identify common patterns in their behavior. This could help physicists understand how matter behaves under extreme relativistic conditions and how accretion disks are structured.
Interdisciplinary, Physical Sciences
