arXiv subjects

A. Rozanska

Publications and source records attributed to A. Rozanska.

39 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2001

Testing a model of variability of X-ray reprocessing features in Active Galactic Nuclei

A number of recent results from X-ray observations of Active Galactic Nuclei involving the Fe K alpha line (reduction of line variability compared to the X-ray continuum variability, the X-ray ``Baldwin effect'') were attributed to a presence of a hot, ionized skin of an accretion disc, suppressing emission of the line. The ionized skin appears as a result of the thermal instability of X-ray irradiated plasma. We test this hypothesis by computing the Thomson thickness of the hot skin on top of the 'alpha P_tot' Shakura-Sunyaev disc, by simultaneously solving the vertical structure of both the hot skin and the disc. We then compute a number of relations between observable quantities, e.g. the hard X-ray flux, amplitude of the observed reprocessed component, relativistic smearing of the K alpha line, the r.m.s. variability of the hard X-rays. These relations can be compared to present and future observations. We point out that this mechanism is unlikely to explain the behaviour of the X-ray source in MCG-6-30-15, where there is a number of arguments against the existence of a thick hot skin, but it can work for some other Seyfert 1 galaxies.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

Disk/corona model: The transition to ADAF

We propose a model of the accretion flow onto a black hole consisting of the accretion disk with an accreting two-temperature corona. The model is based on assumptions about the radiative and conductive energy exchange between the two phases and the pressure equilibrium. The complete model is determined by the mass, the accretion rate, and the viscosity parameter. We present the radial dependencies of parameters of such a two-phase flow, with advection in the corona and the disk/corona mass exchange due to evaporation/condensation included, and we determine the transition radius from a two-phase disk/corona accretion to a single-phase optically thin flow (ADAF) in the innermost part of the disk as a function of accretion rate. We identify the NLS1 galaxies with objects accreting at a rate close to the Eddington accretion rate. The strong variability of these objects may be related to the limit cycle behaviour expected in this luminosity range, as the disk, unstable due to the dominance by the radiation pressure, oscillates between the two stable branches: the advection-dominated optically thick branch and the evaporation branch.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1998

Thermal Conduction and Thermal Instability in the Transition Layer between an Accretion Disc and a Corona in AGN

We study the vertical structure of the transition layer between an accretion disc and corona in the context of the existence of two-phase medium in thermally unstable regions. The disc is illuminated by hard X-ray radiation and satisfies the condition of hydrostatic equilibrium. We take into account the energy exchange between hot corona ($\sim 10^8$ K) and cool disc ($\sim 10^4$ K) through the radiative processes and due to thermal conduction. We make local stability analysis of the case with conductivity and we conclude that thermal conduction does not suppress thermal instability. In spite of continuous temperature profile $T(τ)$ there are regions with strong temperature gradient where spontaneous perturbations can lead to cloud condensation in the transition layer. We determine the minimum size $λ_{TC}$ of such a perturbation.

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