Probing Accreting Black Holes Through X-ray Observations

by Dr Honghui(鸿辉) Liu(刘) (University of Tuebingen)

Monday 21 Sept 2026, 14:00 → 15:00 Asia/Shanghai

Tsung-Dao Lee Institute/S4F-SW - Open Area (Tsung-Dao Lee Institute)

Host: Dong Lai
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Abstract:
Accretion onto black holes is a fundamental process in the Universe and an efficient engine for producing strong radiation and energetic outflows. The X-rays emitted by these systems serve as powerful tools for studying accretion physics and the spacetime geometry near black holes. In this talk, I will discuss how X-ray spectral, timing, and polarimetric data can be used to understand accreting black hole systems. My primary focus will be on measurements of black hole spin angular momentum and the accretion disk-corona structure in X-ray binary systems.

Biography:
Honghui Liu received his Bachelor’s degree in 2019 and his Ph.D. in 2024, both from Fudan University. He is currently an Academic Assistant for the Chair of High-Energy Astrophysics at the Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IAAT), University of Tübingen. His research focuses on probing the environment of accreting black holes through X-ray observations, with topics including measureing black hole spins, disk-corona geometries, outflows in accreting systems, low-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations, and tests of general relativity. To date, he has published 18 papers as first or corresponding author in journals such as ApJ, MNRAS, A&A and PRD.