Compton-heated winds and coronae above accretion disks. II. Instability and oscillations

Journal Article · Tue Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1986 · Astrophys. J.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1086/164322· OSTI ID:7158780

Shields, G A; Mckee, C F; Lin, D N.C.; Begelman, M C

The stability and evolution of windy accretion disks is investigated in detail. The basic disk evolution equations are briefly recapitulated, and an idealized analytic treatment of the wind and viscosity is used to show that steady disk flow is indeed unstable for sufficiently large ratio of the mass loss rate in the wind to the central accretion rate. Numerical solutions for a more realistic and appropriate expression for the mass loss rate and the standard ad hoc alpha model prescription for the viscosity are presented. The application of these results to real systems with Compton-heated winds is discussed, and a general formula for the oscillation period is given. The prediction is compared with observed periodic behavior of Galactic X-ray sources and AGNs. 17 references.

• Research Organization: Texas Univ., Austin; California Univ., Berkeley; California Univ., Santa Cruz; Colorado Univ., Boulder
• OSTI ID: 7158780
• Journal Information: Astrophys. J.; (United States), Journal Name: Astrophys. J.; (United States) Vol. 306; ISSN ASJOA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640102* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Stars & Quasi-Stellar
Radio & X-Ray Sources
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ACCRETION DISKS
BASIC INTERACTIONS
BINARY STARS
COMPTON EFFECT
COSMIC RAY SOURCES
COSMIC X-RAY SOURCES
ELASTIC SCATTERING
ELECTROMAGNETIC INTERACTIONS
FLUID MECHANICS
GALAXY NUCLEI
HEATING
HYDRODYNAMICS
INTERACTIONS
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
MASS TRANSFER
MECHANICS
OSCILLATIONS
PLASMA HEATING
SCATTERING
STABILITY
STAR ACCRETION
STAR EVOLUTION
STARS
STELLAR ACTIVITY
STELLAR WINDS