This is the homepage of Thomas Dauser

I work at the Dr. Karl Remeis Observatory in Bamberg. It exists since 1889 thanks to Karl Remeis testament, in which he wrote that all his money was to be spent for building an observatory in Bamberg. Since then it was used for astronomical research. In 1962 the Remeis observatory was incorporated in the University Erlangen-Nuremberg.

Remeis Observatory
The Dr. Karl Remeis Observatory in Bamberg. The main building is the part on the left. The two domes equipped with small optical telescopes can be seen in the back ground.

My main field of interest is X-ray astronomy. Therein the main focus of my research lies on analyzing relativstic reflection features that are seen in accreting black hole systems. A major part of this work is dedicated to provide an improved model for these relativstic features. The RELLINE model code predicts single broad emission lines and also includes a relativstic smearing kernel (RELCONV). Most recently, the RELXILL model was published, predicting the complete relativstic reflection from in ionized accretion disk by combining RELLINE with the reflection code XILLVER. More details on these models can be found here.

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Simulation of an accretion disk as seen by a distant observer under an inclination angle of θ = 80°. The disk is rotating around a maximally fast spinning black hole. The color scheme reflects the direction of the energy shift, i.e., red illustrates a shift to lower energies and blue a shift to higher energies, respectively. The blue shifted left part of the disk moves towards the observer, whereas the right part recedes from the observer. Note how the light bending serves to virtually flip the disk behind the black hole upwards. The asymmetries are due to relativistic light bending.