Variability of x rays from black holes with accretion disks

Journal Article · Tue May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1973 · Sov. Astron. AJ (Engl. Transl.), v. 16, no. 6, pp. 941-944

OSTI ID:4433322

Syunyaev, R A

If hot spots occur on the surface of a disk of material being accretcd by a collapsar (black hole), then x rays received from the disk should exhibit a characteristic quasiperiodic variability. Such spots could arise either from turbulent convection or from the closure of magnetic field lines (as in solar flares). The lifetime of a spot and the duration of its radial motion toward the black hole could far exceed its orbital period, serving to stabilize the pulsations. The minimum pulsation period for the radiation from a disk with a hot spot should be eight times as short for a rotating as for a nonrotating black hole of the same mass. The detection of rapid quasiperiodic pulsations with a period T approx equal 10/sup -4/-10/sup 2/sec might help to clarify the nature of fluctuating x-ray sources, to identify black holes among them, and most importantly, to discriminate between cases where a Schwarzschild or a Kerr metric prevails. (auth)

• Research Organization: Institute of Applied Mathematics, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow
• NSA Number: NSA-29-001196
• OSTI ID: 4433322
• Journal Information: Sov. Astron. AJ (Engl. Transl.), v. 16, no. 6, pp. 941-944, Journal Name: Sov. Astron. AJ (Engl. Transl.), v. 16, no. 6, pp. 941-944; ISSN SAAJA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

*BLACK HOLES-- X RADIATION
COSMIC X-RAY SOURCES
KERR FIELD
METRICS
N56300* --Physics (Astrophysics & Cosmology)--Quasi-stellar
Radio & X-Ray Sources
ROTATION
SCHWARZSCHILD METRIC
SCHWARZSCHILD RADIUS
STELLAR FLARES
VARIATIONS