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Title: Effects of high-energy particles on accretion flows onto a supermassive black hole

Journal Article · · Astrophysical Journal
;  [1];  [2]
  1. Department of Earth and Space Science, Graduate School of Science, Osaka University, Toyonaka 560-0043 (Japan)
  2. Astronomical Institute, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8578 (Japan)

We study the effects of high-energy particles (HEPs) on the accretion flows onto a supermassive black hole and luminosities of escaping particles such as protons, neutrons, gamma rays, and neutrinos. We formulate a one-dimensional model of the two-component accretion flow consisting of thermal particles and HEPs, supposing that some fraction of the released energy is converted to the acceleration of HEPs. The thermal component is governed by fluid dynamics while the HEPs obey the moment equations of the diffusion-convection equation. By solving the time evolution of these equations, we obtain advection-dominated flows as the steady state solutions. The effects of the HEPs on the flow structures turn out to be small even if the pressure of the HEPs dominates over the thermal pressure. For a model in which the escaping protons take away almost all the energy released, the HEPs have a large enough influence to make the flow have a Keplerian angular velocity at the inner region. We calculate the luminosities of the escaping particles for these steady solutions. The escaping particles can extract the energy from about 10{sup −4} M-dot c{sup 2} to 10{sup −2} M-dot c{sup 2}, where M-dot is the mass accretion rate. The luminosities of the escaping particles depend on parameters such as the injection Lorentz factors, the mass accretion rates, and the diffusion coefficients. We also discuss some implications on the relativistic jet production by the escaping particles.

OSTI ID:
22365309
Journal Information:
Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 791, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English