Black hole-accreting systems exhibit a rich and complex phenomenology, which provide valuable insights into the physical conditions of the accreting material. In this talk, I will focus on black hole X-ray binaries (BHXRBs) as natural laboratories for probing the behaviour of matter in the vicinity of the central BH. These systems undergo rapid and dramatic changes in their X-ray spectral and timing characteristics as they evolve through distinct accretion states during an outburst. Understanding this complex evolution is key to constraining the geometry, energetics, and variability mechanisms of the accretion flow. By combining spectral and timing diagnostics we can reconstruct the structure of the emitting regions and their dynamic coupling on multiple timescales. I will highlight recent developments in this area and the emerging challenges for our theoretical understanding of accretion physics.

Breve Bio della Dr. Barbara de Marco:

Si è laureata all'Università di Bologna, ed ha ottenuto il dottorato presso la SISSA di Trieste. Come postdoc ha lavorato in diversi istituti di ricerca Europei (Centro de Astrobiología del CSIC-INTA a Madrid, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Astrophysics a Monaco di Baviera, Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Centre a Varsavia). Dal 2020 è assistant professor e Ramón y Cajal fellow all'Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya di Barcelona. La sua ricerca primaria è focalizzata nello studio dell'accrescimento di gas e processi di espulsione in sistemi con buchi neri attivi, per individuare le condizioni fisiche che caratterizzano gli ambienti più interni attorno a i buchi neri.