Bondi Flow from Various Perspectives

Abstract

Realization of the stationary integral solutions of steady state transonic accretion flow in spherical symmetry helps to understand accretion phenomena on various astrophysical objects. In recent years, attempts have been made to study accreting black hole systems as an example of autonomous dynamical systems. The fixed point analysis is used to study the transonic properties of accretion flow onto an astrophysical black hole, hence the nature of the phase orbits for the transonic flow solutions can be understood without constructing the integral solutions. Since a large-scale astrophysical fluid flow is vulnerable to external perturbation, one needs to ensure that the stationary accretion solutions are stable under perturbation. By adopting a time-dependent stability analysis scheme for the accretion flow, one demonstrates under which condition the perturbation will not diverge. It has also been observed that a space-time metric, dubbed the sonic metric, can be constructed to describe the propagation of the perturbation embedded within the accreting fluid, which mimics a black hole like spacetime within the accreting fluid, where the transonic surfaces can be identified with a black hole like horizons. Such identification is accomplished using the theory of causal structure - by constructing Carter-Penrose diagrams. An accreting black hole system, thus, can be perceived as a classical analogue gravity model naturally found in the universe. Hence, accretion phenomena onto astrophysical black holes can be looked upon from three apparently non-overlapping perspectives - astrophysical processes, theory of dynamical systems, and emergent gravity (alternatively, the analogue gravity) phenomena, respectively. The present article illustrates, by taking the simplest possible accretion flow model, how one can study astrophysical accretion processes from the aforementioned perspectives (Abridged).