Compton-heated Winds and Coronae above Accretion Disks. III. Instability and Oscillations
Abstract
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.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- July 1986
- DOI:
- 10.1086/164322
- Bibcode:
- 1986ApJ...306...90S
- Keywords:
-
- Accretion Disks;
- Compton Effect;
- Magnetohydrodynamic Stability;
- Plasma Heating;
- Stellar Oscillations;
- Stellar Winds;
- Active Galactic Nuclei;
- Computational Astrophysics;
- Plasma Oscillations;
- Stellar Coronas;
- Stellar Mass Accretion;
- Stellar Mass Ejection;
- X Ray Binaries;
- Astrophysics;
- GALAXIES: NUCLEI;
- QUASARS;
- STARS: ACCRETION;
- STARS: WINDS;
- X-RAYS: BINARIES;
- X-RAYS: SOURCES