Relativistic Diskoseismology

Abstract

We will summarize results of calculations of the modes of oscillation trapped within the inner region of accretion disks by the strong-field gravitational properties of a black hole (or a compact, weakly-magnetized neutron star). Their driving and damping will also be addressed. The focus will be on the most observable class: the analogue of internal gravity modes in stars. Their frequencies which corrrespond to the lowest mode numbers depend almost entirely upon only the mass and angular momentum of the black hole. Such a feature may have been detected in the X-ray power spectra of two galactic `microquasars', allowing the angular momentum of the black hole to be determined in one case.