Estimation of the Viscosity Parameter in Accretion Disks of Blazars

Details Estimation of the Viscosity Parameter in Accretion Disks of Blazars Estimation of the Viscosity Parameter in Accretion Disks of Blazars

Dec 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009apj...707..866x&link_type=abstract

The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 707, Issue 2, pp. 866-869 (2009).

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

2

Accretion, Accretion Disks, Galaxies: Active, Galaxies: General, Galaxies: Nuclei, Galaxy: Disk

Scientific paper

For an optical monitoring blazar sample set whose typical minimum variability timescale is about 1 hr, we estimate a mean value of the viscosity parameter in their accretion disk. We assume that optical variability on timescales of hours is caused by local instabilities in the inner accretion disk. Comparing the observed variability timescales to the thermal timescales of α-disk models, we could obtain constraints on the viscosity parameter (α) and the intrinsic Eddington ratio (L^in/L_Edd=\dot{m}), 0.104 <= α <= 0.337, and 0.0201 <= L in/L Edd <= 0.1646. These narrow ranges suggest that all these blazars are observed in a single state, and thus provide a new evidence for the unification of flat-spectrum radio quasars and BL Lacs into a single blazar population. The values of α we derive are consistent with the theoretical expectation α ~ 0.1-0.3 of Narayan & Mcclintock for advection-dominated accretion flow and are also compatible with Pessah et al.'s predictions (α >= 0.1) by numerical simulations in which magnetohydrodynamic turbulence is driven by the saturated magnetorotational instability.

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