arXiv subjects

Igor V. Igumenshchev

Publications and source records attributed to Igor V. Igumenshchev.

25 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2000

On the absence of winds in ADAFs

We show that recently published assertions that advection dominated accretion flows (ADAFs) require the presence of strong winds are unfounded because they assume that low radiative efficiency in flows accreting at low rates onto black holes implies vanishing radial energy and angular momentum fluxes through the flow (which is also formulated in terms of the `Bernoulli function' being positive). This, however, is a property only of self-similar solutions which are an inadequate representation of global accretion flows. We recall general properties of accretion flows onto black holes and show that such, necessarily transonic, flows may have either positive or negative Bernoulli function depending on the flow viscosity. Flows with low viscosities (alpha<0.1 in the alpha-viscosity model) have a negative Bernoulli function. Without exception, all 2-D and 1-D numerical models of low viscosity flows constructed to date experience no significant outflows. At high viscosities the presence of outflows depends on the assumed viscosity, the equation of state and on the outer boundary condition. The positive sign of the Bernoulli function invoked in this context is irrelevant to the presence of outflows. As an illustration, we recall 2-D numerical models with moderate viscosity that have positive values of the Bernoulli function and experience no outflows. ADAFs, therefore, do not differ from this point of view from thin Keplerian discs: they may have, but they do not have to have strong winds.

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arXiv1999

Unipolar outflows and global meridional circulations in rotating accretion flows

Using two-dimensional simulations of non-radiative viscous rotating black hole accretion flows, we show that the flows with alpha~0.1-0.3 self-organize to form stationary unipolar or bipolar outflows accompanied by global meridional circulations. The required energy comes, with efficiency \~0.001-0.01, from the matter directly accreted onto black hole. Observational implications are discussed.

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arXiv1999

Numerical models of rotating accretion flows around black holes

Numerical, two-dimensional, time-dependent hydrodynamical models of geometrically thick accretion discs around black holes are presented. Accretion flows with non-effective radiation cooling (ADAFs) can be both convectively stable or unstable depending on the value of the viscosity parameter α. The high viscosity flows (α~1) are stable and have a strong equatorial inflow and bipolar outflows. The low viscosity flows (α<0.1) are convectively unstable and this induces quasi-periodic variability.

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arXiv1999

Hard X-ray emitting black hole fed by accretion of low angular momentum matter

Observed spectra of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and luminous X-ray binaries in our Galaxy suggest that both hot (~10^9 K) and cold (~10^6 K) plasma components exist close to the central accreting black hole. Hard X-ray component of the spectra is usually explained by Compton upscattering of optical/UV photons from optically thick cold plasma by hot electrons. Observations also indicate that some of these objects are quite efficient in converting gravitational energy of accretion matter into radiation. Existing theoretical models have difficulties in explaining the two plasma components and high intensity of hard X-rays. Most of the models assume that the hot component emerges from the cold one due to some kind of instability, but no one offers a satisfactory physical explanation for this. Here we propose a solution to these difficulties that reverses what was imagined previously: in our model the hot component forms first and afterward it cools down to form the cold component. In our model, accretion flow has initially a small angular momentum, and thus it has a quasi-spherical geometry at large radii. Close to the black hole, the accreting matter is heated up in shocks that form due to the action of the centrifugal force. The hot post-shock matter is very efficiently cooled down by Comptonization of low energy photons and condensates into a thin and cold accretion disk. The thin disk emits the low energy photons which cool the hot component.

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arXiv1996

On the morphology of accretion flows with small non-zero specific angular momentum

The morphology of adiabatic accretion flows with small non-zero specific angular momentum has been investigated in the axisymmetric and nonviscous limit. For an initial state characterized by a Bondi flow with the specific angular momentum distributed with respect to polar angle, a travelling shock wave forms which propagates more rapidly in the equatorial plane than in the plane perpendicular to it resulting in the formation of a hot torus. In cases where the incoming flow is restricted to lie near the equatorial plane, a strong wind forms directed away from this plane with the tendency for the formation of a nonsteady shock structure. As the height of the incoming flow is increased it is found that the resultant wind weakens. The parameter regime which delineates accretion flows characterized by a travelling shock and a nearly standing shock structure is presented.

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arXiv1996

Special relativity and the pseudo-Newtonian potential

A simple re-scaling of velocities calculated from the Paczy{ń}ski \& Wiita (1980) pseudo-Newtonian potential makes them consistent with special relativity and greatly improves the agreement with the exact relativistic calculations. The improvement is relevant in calculations of the Doppler effect, spectra and radiation transfer which all involve effects of special relativity.

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arXiv1995

Accretion discs around black holes: two dimensional, advection cooled flows

Two-dimensional accretion flows near black holes have been investigated by time-dependent hydrodynamical calculations. We assume that the flow is axisymmetric and that radiative losses of internal energy are negligible, so that the disc is geometrically thick and hot. Accretion occurs due to the overflow of the effective potential barrier near the black hole, similar to the case of the Roche lobe overflowing star in a binary system. We make no pre-assumptions on the properties of the flow, instead our models evolve self-consistently from an initially non-accreting state. The viscosity is due to the the small-scale turbulence and it is described by the $α$-viscosity prescription. We confirm earlier suggestions that viscous accretion flows are convectively unstable. We found that the instability produces transient eddies of various length-scales. The eddies contribute to the strength of the viscosity in the flow by redistributing the angular momentum. They also introduce low amplitude oscillatory variations which have a typical frequency about $100\; \msun/M$ Hz for a system of mass $M$. This may be relevant to the high frequency ($\sim 4-10$ Hz) quasi-periodic oscillations observed in the Galactic black hole candidate X-ray sources.

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