The structure and appearance of winds from supercritical accretion disks. I. Numerical models.
Abstract
Equations for the structure and appearance of supercritical accretion disks and the radiation-driven winds which emanate from them are derived and solved by a steady-state hydrodynamic computer code with a relaxation technique used in stellar structure problems. The present model takes into account the mass of the accreting star, the total accretion rate, a generalization of the disk alpha parameter which accounts for heating by processes in addition to viscosity, and the ratio of the total luminosity to the Eddington luminosity. Solutions indicate that for accretion onto a hard-surfaced star, steady, optically thick winds result for even slightly supercritical accretion, and the object will appear as a supergiant star with a high mass loss rate and a nonblackbody spectrum. Winds from black hole accretion disks are expected to depend on the form of the accretion interior to the critical radius, possibly consisting of no ejection at all, a wind similar to that of a hard-surfaced star, or a column of material ejected from a hole in the accretion disk.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- October 1979
- DOI:
- 10.1086/157428
- Bibcode:
- 1979ApJ...233..664M
- Keywords:
-
- Astrophysics;
- Stellar Mass Accretion;
- Stellar Models;
- Stellar Winds;
- Supercritical Flow;
- Binary Stars;
- Black Holes (Astronomy);
- Disks (Shapes);
- Photosphere;
- Supergiant Stars;
- Astrophysics;
- Accretion Disks:Models;
- Accretion Disks:Stellar Winds;
- Stellar Winds:Models