Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Apr 1997
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1997aps..apr..j502s&link_type=abstract
American Physical Society, APS/AAPT Joint Meeting, April 18-21, 1997, abstract #J5.02
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Scientific paper
The release of gravitational binding energy by accretion of mass onto a compact object drives energetic phenomena in many astrophysical systems. Generally, the specific angular momentum of infalling matter results in the formation of an accretion disk around the central object. In order to accrete, mass in the disk must somehow lose angular momentum. The physical process which drives angular momentum transport within an accretion disk has puzzled astrophysicists for over two decades. Recent work has shown that a weak magnetic field in a differentially rotating accretion disk will transport angular momentum between fluid elements along field lines unstably. Fully three-dimensional, time-dependent MHD simulations of the nonlinear stage of the instability demonstrate it generates turbulence with a power spectrum consistent with Kolmogorov. Strong angular momentum transport is associated with this turbulence, and moreover, there is evidence the turbulence acts as a dynamo, amplifying weak initial seed fields until the magnetic energy density is in equipartition with the internal energy density. In this talk, the results of MHD simulations of unstable accretion disks will be reviewed, and the implications of these results for the structure and evolution of astrophysical accretion disks will be discussed.
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