Accretion Disks with a Cloudy Sky --- Photon Floater

Details Accretion Disks with a Cloudy Sky --- Photon Floater Accretion Disks with a Cloudy Sky --- Photon Floater

Feb 1996

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996pasj...48...89f&link_type=abstract

Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan, v.48, p.89-91.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

7

Accretion Disks, Galaxies: Active, Photon Floating, Protoplanetary Disks, X-Rays: Binaries

Scientific paper

Materials rotating above/below an accretion disk around a central object suffer from the influence of the strong radiation fields of the disk as well as the gravity of the central object. We find that there exists a critical floating height where the vertical gravity of the central object is balanced by the radiation force from the disk, and the materials are photon-floating there. The critical floating height is detemined by the disk effective luminosity Gamma_eff , which is defined by Gamma_eff =(sigma /sigma_T )(m_p/m)(L_d/L_E), where sigma and m are the material cross-section and mass, respectively, sigma_T and m_p the Thomson cross-section and the proton mass, respectively, and L_d and L_E the disk luminosity and the Eddington luminosity, respectively. For small Gamma_eff or large r (>> z) the critical floating height z_F is expressed as z_F ~ 3\ r_in Gamma_eff , where r_in is the inner radius of the disk. The astrophysically important point is that this critical floating height is dynamically stable; hence, materials, such as gas clouds or dust or artificials, suffering from the radiation field of the disk drift toward this floating height. Such floating clouds --- photon floaters --- above/below the disk partially occults the disk. If the disk sky is cloudy, the observed luminosity becomes irregular. Futhermore, if a cloudy sky is present, the emitted spectrum would be remarkably modified due to reprocessing. A cloudy sky would also produce absorption/emission features. In addition, since the radiation from the disk is scattered by floating clouds at a critical floating height, the disk appears as if its thickness had become z_F. The weather environment, such as a cloudy or dusty sky, changes the disk appearance significantly.

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