One of the main properties of accreting BH systems is the extreme variability of their emitted X-ray radiation. Such variability is a fundamental tool to study the matter in close orbit around the BH.
I am among those who pioneered the use of X-ray timing techniques to study the echo of the accreting gas in response to variations of the illuminating X-ray radiation. This novel approach, known as "X-ray reverberation mapping" currently represents the most powerful method to constrain the geometry of the innermost environments of accreting BH systems.
Some of the main questions my research aims to address are:
- What is the role played by variations of accretion flow geometry in determining the observed phenomenology of BHXRB?
- Are the different classes of AGN the large-scale counterpart of BHXRB as observed in different accretion states?
From February 2017 till January 2019 my research has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 665778 via the Polish National Science Center (NCN) grant Polonez (UMO-2016/21/P/ST9/04025). From February 2019 till August 2020 my research has been focused on the "BHmapping" project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 798726.