Straub, O.Bursa, M.Sadowski, AleksanderSteiner, JamesAbramowicz, M. A.Kluźniak, W.McClintock, JeffreyNarayan, RameshRemillard, R. A.2014-10-142011Straub, O., M. Bursa, A. Sądowski, J. F. Steiner, M. A. Abramowicz, W. Kluźniak, J. E. McClintock, R. Narayan, and R. A. Remillard. 2011. Testing Slim-Disk Models on the Thermal Spectra of LMC X-3. Astronomy & Astrophysics 533: A67.0004-63611432-0746http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:13041317Slim-disk models describe advective accretion flows at high luminosities, while reducing to the standard thin disk form in the low luminosity limit. We have developed a new spectral model, slimbb, within the framework of XSPEC, which describes fully relativistic slim-disk accretion and includes photon ray-tracing that starts from the disk photosphere, rather than the equatorial plane. We demonstrate the features of this model by applying it to RXTE spectra of the persistent black-hole X-ray binary LMC X-3. LMC X-3 has the virtues of exhibiting large intensity variations while maintaining itself in soft spectral states which are well described using accretion-disk models, making it an ideal candidate to test the aptness of slimbb. Our results demonstrate consistency between the low-luminosity (thin-disk) and high luminosity (slim-disk) regimes. The results also illustrate that advection alone does not solve the problem of the origin of the surprisingly soft high-luminosity spectra in LMC X-3. We show that X-ray continuum-fitting in the high accretion rate regime can powerfully test black-hole accretion disk models.en-USaccretion, accretion disksblack hole physicsX-rays: binariesJournal Article2014-10-1410.1051/0004-6361/201117385