Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jul 1984
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1984mnras.209..175s&link_type=abstract
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (ISSN 0035-8711), vol. 209, July 1, 1984, p. 175-208.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
160
Cosmic Plasma, Plasma Clouds, Relativistic Plasmas, Thermal Plasmas, Bremsstrahlung, Electron-Positron Pairs, Luminosity, Pair Production, Photons, Steady State, Thermodynamic Equilibrium
Scientific paper
The physical properties of a finite, thermal plasma in pair balance are investigated as a function of the three dimensionless parameters: (1) the temperature θ, (2) the "proton optical depth" τp, and (3) the proton density np. At a dimensionless luminosity l ⪆ 1 Comptonization of bremsstrahlung and double Compton photons dominates the cooling. A determination of the steady pair density in such a Wien equilibrium plasma shows the existence of the two pair density branches previously found for optically thin plasmas. The complicated interplay between photon and pair processes in such a plasma is elucidated. The main result is the existence of a pair-dominated luminosity curve that separates a pair-free region from a forbidden one in l - θ space. Requiring pair balance limits allowed luminosities at mildly relativistic temperatures to values two orders of magnitude smaller than the Eddington luminosity normally employed in accretion models.
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