A New Analytical Solution for the Structure of Radiation-Dominated Pulsar Accretion Shocks

Details A New Analytical Solution for the Structure of Radiation-Dominated Pulsar Accretion Shocks A New Analytical Solution for the Structure of Radiation-Dominated Pulsar Accretion Shocks

Dec 1997

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1997aas...19111108b&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, 191st AAS Meeting, #111.08; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 29, p.1391

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

The flow of a radiation-dominated ideal fluid through a standing, radiative shock is an important aspect of accretion onto high-luminosity X-ray pulsars. A complete understanding of the shock structure is required in order to analyze the role of Fermi energization in producing the power-law spectra observed from typical X-ray pulsars. We reconsider the problem in this paper by obtaining an analytical solution for the velocity profile based on an approximate set of hydrodynamical equations describing the steady, plane-parallel flow of a radiation-dominated ideal fluid along a magnetically confined accretion column, including the escape of radiation through the column walls. The requirement of downstream stagnation yields an interesting eigenvalue relation involving the accretion rate, the radius of the column, and the energy flux at the sonic point. Flows failing to satisfy this relation cannot be steady, and may display a variety of temporal behaviors. The simplicity of the analytical solution makes it a very convenient starting point for calculations of the emergent spectrum, which are currently underway.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

A New Analytical Solution for the Structure of Radiation-Dominated Pulsar Accretion Shocks does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with A New Analytical Solution for the Structure of Radiation-Dominated Pulsar Accretion Shocks, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and A New Analytical Solution for the Structure of Radiation-Dominated Pulsar Accretion Shocks will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1177919