Active galactic nuclei. III. Accretion flow in an externally supplied cluster of black holes

Journal Article · Tue Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1989 · Astrophysical Journal; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1086/167730· OSTI ID:5475257

Pacholczyk, A G; Stoeger, W R; Stepinski, T F ^[1]

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1. Steward Observatory, Tucson, AZ (USA)

This third paper in the series modeling QSOs and AGNs as clusters of accreting black holes studies the accretion flow within an externally supplied cluster. Significant radiation will be emitted by the cluster core, but the black holes in the outer halo, where the flow is considered spherically symmetric, will not contribute much to the overall luminosity of the source because of their large velocities relative to the infalling gas and therefore their small accretion radii. As a result, the scenario discussed in Paper I will refer to the cluster cores, rather than to entire clusters. This will steepen the high-frequency region of the spectrum unless inverse Compton scattering is effective. In many cases accretion flow in the central part of the cluster will be optically thick to electron scattering, resulting in a spectrum featuring optically thick radiative component in addition to power-law regimes. The fitting of these spectra to QSO and AGN observations is discussed, and application to 3C 273 is worked out as an example. 14 refs.

• OSTI ID: 5475257
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal; (USA), Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal; (USA) Vol. 343; ISSN ASJOA; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640102 -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Stars & Quasi-Stellar
Radio & X-Ray Sources
640105* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Galaxies
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ACCRETION DISKS
BLACK HOLES
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
GALAXY NUCLEI
LUMINOSITY
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
QUASARS
STAR CLUSTERS