Strongly Magnetized Accretion Disks with Supersonic Turbulence
Abstract
We consider a model of turbulent accretion disks supported by magnetic pressure of turbulent magnetic fields. The turbulent kinetic energy is in equipartition with the turbulent magnetic energy and exceed the thermal energy and radiation energy in the disk. Such supersonic turbulence has a dissipation time of the order of one turnover time of the largest eddy, which is limited by the disk thickness. As a result, the effective alpha in the viscosity law must be of order of unity. The energy dissipated by the turbulence is radiated away from the surface of the disk. We derive the condition for the radiation loss time scale to be short enough to justify the self-consistency of a magnetically dominated thin disk. We calculate the radial structure and emission specta of such a disk. We also discuss the possible origin of the strong field in the context of AGN.
- Publication:
-
APS April Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- April 2002
- Bibcode:
- 2002APS..APRN17106B