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Black Hole

Lensing of space time around a black hole. At Oxford we study black holes observationally and theoretically on all size and time scales - it is some of our core work.

Credit: ALAIN RIAZUELO, IAP/UPMC/CNRS. CLICK HERE TO VIEW MORE IMAGES.

Sara Motta

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Sub department

  • Astrophysics
sara.motta@physics.ox.ac.uk
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  • Publications

Type I X-ray burst emission reflected into the eclipses of EXO 0748−676

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Oxford University Press 538:3 (2025) 2058-2074

Authors:

Amy H Knight, Jakob van den Eijnden, Adam Ingram, James H Matthews, Sara E Motta, Matthew Middleton, Giulio C Mancuso, Douglas JK Buisson, Diego Altamirano, Rob Fender, Timothy P Roberts

Abstract:

The neutron star X-ray binary, EXO 0748−676, was observed regularly by the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) and XMM–Newton during its first detected outburst (1985–2008). These observations captured hundreds of asymmetric, energy-dependent X-ray eclipses, influenced by the ongoing ablation of the companion star and numerous Type I thermonuclear X-ray bursts. Here, we present the light curves of 22 Type I X-ray bursts observed by RXTE that coincide, fully or partially, with an X-ray eclipse. We identify nine instances where the burst occurs entirely within totality, seven bursts split across an egress, and six cases interrupted by an ingress. All in-eclipse and split bursts occurred while the source was in the hard spectral state. We establish that we are not observing direct burst emission during eclipses since the companion star and the ablated outflow entirely obscure our view of the X-ray emitting region. We determine that the reflected flux from the outer accretion disc, even if maximally flared, is insufficient to explain all observations of in-eclipse X-ray bursts and instead explore scenarios whereby the emission arising from the X-ray bursts is scattered, either by a burst-induced rise in that provides extra material, an accretion disc wind or the ablated outflow, into our line of sight. However, the rarity of a burst and eclipse overlap makes it challenging to determine their origin.
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A new pulsating neutron star in the ultraluminous X-ray source NGC 4559 X7?

Astronomy & Astrophysics EDP Sciences 695 (2025) a238

Authors:

F Pintore, C Pinto, G Rodriguez-Castillo, GL Israel, NO Pinciroli Vago, S Motta, F Barra, DJ Walton, F Fuerst, P Kosec, C Salvaggio, M Del Santo, A Wolter, M Middleton, A D’Aì, E Ambrosi, L Burderi, M Imbrogno, R Salvaterra, A Robba
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Multi-band study of the flaring mode emission in the transitional millisecond pulsar PSR J1023+0038

Astronomy & Astrophysics EDP Sciences 694 (2025) l19

Authors:

MC Baglio, F Coti Zelati, AK Hughes, F Carotenuto, S Campana, D de Martino, SE Motta, A Papitto, N Rea, DM Russell, DF Torres, A Di Marco, F La Monaca, S Covino, S Giarratana, G Illiano, A Miraval Zanon, K Alabarta, P D’Avanzo, MM Messa
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Rapid Mid-Infrared Spectral-Timing with JWST: I. GRS 1915+105 during a MIR–bright and X-ray–obscured state

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Oxford University Press (OUP) (2025) staf036

Authors:

P Gandhi, ES Borowski, J Byrom, RI Hynes, TJ Maccarone, AW Shaw, OK Adegoke, D Altamirano, MC Baglio, Y Bhargava, CT Britt, DAH Buckley, DJK Buisson, P Casella, N Castro Segura, PA Charles, JM Corral-Santana, VS Dhillon, R Fender, A Gúrpide, CO Heinke, AB Igl, C Knigge, S Markoff, G Mastroserio, ML McCollough, M Middleton, JM Miller, JCA Miller-Jones, SE Motta, JA Paice, DD Pawar, RM Plotkin, P Pradhan, ME Ressler, DM Russell, TD Russell, P Santos-Sanz, T Shahbaz, GR Sivakoff, D Steeghs, AJ Tetarenko, JA Tomsick, FM Vincentelli, M George, M Gurwell, R Rao
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Peculiar radio-bright behaviour of the Galactic black hole transient 4U 1543−47 in the 2021–2023 outburst

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters Oxford University Press (OUP) 538:1 (2025) l43-l49

Authors:

X Zhang, W Yu, F Carotenuto, SE Motta, R Fender, JCA Miller-Jones, TD Russell, A Bahramian, P Woudt, AK Hughes, GR Sivakoff
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