Spectral models of advection-dominated accretion flows with winds

Eliot Quataert, Ramesh Narayan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

194 Scopus citations

Abstract

We calculate spectral models of advection-dominated accretion flows, taking into account the possibility that significant mass may be lost to an outflow/wind. We apply the models to the soft X-ray transient V404 Cyg in quiescence, the Galactic center source Sgr A *, and the nucleus of NGC 4649. We show that there are qualitative degeneracies between the mass-loss rate in the wind and parameters characterizing the microphysics of the accretion flow; of particular importance is δ, the fraction of the turbulent energy which heats the electrons. For small δ, current observations suggest that at most 90% of the mass originating at large radii is lost to a wind, so that at least ∼ 10% reaches the central object. For large δ ∼ 0.3, however, models with significantly more mass loss are in agreement with the observations. We conclude by highlighting future observations which may clarify the importance of mass loss in sub-Eddington accretion flows.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)298-315
Number of pages18
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume520
Issue number1 PART 1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 20 1999
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

Keywords

  • Accretion, accretion disks
  • Black hole physics
  • Galaxies: individual (NGC 4649)
  • Galaxy: center
  • Stars: individual (V404 Cygni)

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