Title:

Probing Black Hole Environments and Intervening Material
with High Resolution X-ray Spectroscopy



Julia Lee
Harvard University



Abstract:

	Black holes and accretion onto black holes are
associated with a wide range of astrophysical
phenomena. High resolution X-ray spectroscopy provides a
powerful new tool for probing the physics of the black hole
environment. X-ray spectral signatures reveal the dynamics
and the ionization state of plasma in and around the
accretion disk, and the properties of winds and flows. I
will discuss highlights from Chandra observations of several
well known stellar and supermassive black hole systems, the
microquasar GRS 1915+105, the Seyfert 1 galaxy MCG-6-30-15
and the Seyfert 2 galaxy IRAS 18325-5926 to illustrate their
similarities, despite the phenomenological differences.
X-ray spectra of these systems allow us to probe the ionized
winds, GR effects from close to the black hole, and nature
of the intervening material, e.g.  in dust in the ISM and/or
the hotter baryonic component of the IGM.