2004ApJ...617L..25L -
Astrophys. J., 617, L25-L28 (2004/December-2)
A self-consistent model for the formation of relativistic outflows in advection-dominated accretion disks with shocks.
LE T. and BECKER P.A.
Abstract (from CDS):
In this Letter, we suggest that the relativistic protons powering the outflows emanating from radio-loud systems containing black holes are accelerated at standing, centrifugally supported shocks in hot advection-dominated accretion disks. Such disks are ideal sites for first-order Fermi acceleration at shocks because the gas is tenuous, and consequently the mean free path for particle-particle collisions generally exceeds the thickness of the disk. The accelerated particles are therefore able to avoid thermalization, and as a result a small fraction of them achieve very high energies and escape from the disk. In our approach, the hydrodynamics and the particle acceleration are coupled and the solutions are obtained self-consistently based on a rigorous mathematical treatment. The theoretical analysis of the particle transport parallels the early studies of cosmic-ray acceleration in supernova shock waves. We find that particle acceleration in the vicinity of the shock can extract enough energy to power a relativistic jet. Using physical parameters appropriate for M87 and Sgr A*, we confirm that the jet kinetic luminosities predicted by the theory agree with the observational estimates.
Abstract Copyright:
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Journal keyword(s):
Accretion, Accretion Disks - Black Hole Physics - Galaxies: Jets - Hydrodynamics
Simbad objects:
2
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