Search results for "Accretion"
showing 10 items of 385 documents
Study of the Temporal Behavior of 4U 1728−34 as a Function of Its Position in the Color‐Color Diagram
2001
We study the timing properties of the bursting atoll source 4U 1728-34 as a function of its position in the X-ray color-color diagram. In the island part of the color-color diagram (corresponding to the hardest energy spectra), the power spectrum of 4U 1728-34 shows several features such as a band-limited noise component present up to a few tens of Hz, a low-frequency quasi-periodic oscillation (LFQPO) at frequencies between 20 and 40 Hz, a peaked noise component around 100 Hz, and one or two QPOs at kHz frequencies. In addition to these, in the lower banana (corresponding to softer energy spectra) we also find a very low frequency noise (VLFN) component below ∼1 Hz. In the upper banana (co…
A three-dimensional smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulation of the active phase of SS Cyg-type discs and its implications for the mass transfer bu…
1993
We perform a smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) three-dimensional simulation of the outburst phase of the accretion disc of a typical SS Cyg-like dwarf nova in the framework of the mass transfer burst model (MTBM), where we assume that the active phase is triggered by a sudden increase in the accretion rate due to some instability in the secondary's atmosphere. The evolution of the accretion disc is followed for a single orbital period, starting from the initial quiescent disc configuration obtained by us in a previous paper. This is a suitable integration time for determining the geometrical and physical properties of the disc in the impulsive phase and is comparable with observed outbu…
SPH simulations of Shakura-Sunyaev instability at intermediate accretion rates
2003
We show that a standard Shakura-Sunyaev accretion disc around a black hole with an accretion rate lower than the critical Eddington limit does show the instability in the radiation pressure dominated zone. We obtain this result performing time-dependent simulations of accretion disks for a set of values of the viscosity parameter and accretion rate. In particular we always find the occurrence of the collapse of the disc: the instability develops always towards a collapsed gas pressure dominated disc and not towards the expansion. This result is valid for all initial configurations we tested. We find significant convective heat flux that increases the instability development time, but is not…
A Robust Determination of the size of quasar accretion disks using gravitational microlensing
2012
Using microlensing measurements from a sample of 27 image-pairs of 19 lensed quasars we determine a maximum likelihood estimate for the accretion disk size of an {{\em}average} quasar of $r_s=4.0^{+2.4}_{-3.1} $ light days at rest frame $=1736$\AA\ for microlenses with a mean mass of $=0.3M_\odot$. This value, in good agreement with previous results from smaller samples, is roughly a factor of 5 greater than the predictions of the standard thin disk model. The individual size estimates for the 19 quasars in our sample are also in excellent agreement with the results of the joint maximum likelihood analysis.
Structure of the Accretion Disk in the Lensed Quasar Q2237+0305 from Multi-Epoch and Multi-Wavelength Narrow Band Photometry
2015
We present estimates for the size and the logarithmic slope of the disk temperature profile of the lensed quasar Q2237+0305, independent of the component velocities. These estimates are based on six epochs of multi-wavelength narrowband images from the Nordic Optical Telescope. For each pair of lensed images and each photometric band, we determine the microlensing amplitude and chromaticity using pre-existing mid-IR photometry to define the baseline for no microlensing magnification. A statistical comparison of the combined microlensing data (6 epochs $\times$ 5 narrow bands $\times$ 6 image pairs) with simulations based on microlensing magnification maps gives Bayesian estimates for the ha…
Troubled cosmic flows: turbulence, enstrophy and helicity from the assembly history of the intracluster medium
2021
Both simulations and observations have shown that turbulence is a pervasive phenomenon in cosmic scenarios, yet it is particularly difficult to model numerically due to its intrinsically multiscale character which demands high resolutions. Additionally, turbulence is tightly connected to the dynamical state and the formation history of galaxies and galaxy clusters, producing a diverse phenomenlogy which requires large samples of such structures to attain robust conclusions. In this work, we use an adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) cosmological simulation to explore the generation and dissipation of turbulence in galaxy clusters, in connection to its assembly history. We find that major mergers…
On the soft excess in the x-ray spectrum of circinus X-1: Revisitation of the distance to circinus X-1
2005
We report on a 300 ks BeppoSAX (0.12-200 keV) observation of Circinus X-1 (Cir X-1) at phases between 0.62 and 0.84 and on a 90 ks BeppoSAX observation of Cir X-1 at phases 0.11-0.16. Using the canonical model adopted until now to fit the energy spectrum of this source, large residuals appear below 1 keV. These are well fitted using an equivalent hydrogen column of 0.66¿1022 cm-2, adding absorption edges of O VII, O VIII, and Ne IX in the spectra extracted from the observation at phases 0.62-0.84 and adding absorption edges of O VII, O VIII, Mg XI, and Mg XII and absorption lines of O VIII and Mg XII in the spectra extracted from the observation at phases 0.11-0.16. During the observation a…
X-ray emission from MP Muscae: an old classical T Tauri star
2007
We study the properties of X-ray emitting plasma of MP Mus, an old classical T Tauri star. We aim at checking whether an accretion process produces the observed X-ray emission and at deriving the accretion parameters and the characteristics of the shock-heated plasma. We compare the properties of MP Mus with those of younger classical T Tauri stars to test whether age is related to the properties of the X-ray emission plasma. XMM-Newton X-ray spectra allows us to measure plasma temperatures, abundances, and electron density. In particular the density of cool plasma probes whether X-ray emission is produced by plasma heated in the accretion process. X-ray emission from MP Mus originates from…
RESOLVING THE INNERMOST REGION OF THE ACCRETION DISK OF THE LENSED QUASAR Q2237+0305 THROUGH GRAVITATIONAL MICROLENSING
2015
We study three high magnification microlensing events, generally recognized as probable caustic crossings, in the optical light curves of the multiply imaged quasar Q 2237+0305. We model the light curve of each event as the convolution of a standard thin disk luminosity profile with a straight fold caustic. We also allow for a linear gradient that can account for an additional varying background effect of microlensing. This model not only matches noticeably well the global shape of each of the three independent microlensing events but also gives remarkably similar estimates for the disk size parameter. The measured average half-light radius, $R_{1/2}=(3.0\pm 1.5)\sqrt{M/0.3M\odot}$ light-da…
A "horizon adapted" approach to the study of relativistic accretion flows onto rotating black holes
1998
We present a new geometrical approach to the study of accretion flows onto rotating (Kerr) black holes. Instead of Boyer-Lindquist coordinates, the standard choice in all existing numerical simulations in the literature, we employ the simplest example of a horizon adapted coordinate system, the Kerr-Schild coordinates. This choice eliminates boundary ambiguities and unphysical divergent behavior at the event horizon. Computations of Bondi-Hoyle accretion onto extreme Kerr black holes, performed here for the first time, demonstrate the key advantages of this procedure. We argue it offers the best approach to the numerical study of the, observationally, increasingly more accesible relativisti…