W. Kluźniak

Relativistic slim disks with vertical structure

We report on a scheme for incorporating vertical radiative energy transport into a fully relativistic, Kerr-metric model of optically thick, advective, transonic alpha disks. Our code couples the radial and vertical equations of the accretion disk. The flux was computed in the diffusion approximation, and convection is included in the mixing-length approximation. We present the detailed structure of this “two-dimensional” slim-disk model for α = 0.01. We then calculated the emergent spectra integrated over the disk surface. The values of surface density, radial velocity, and the photospheric height for these models differ by 20%‐30% from those obtained in the polytropic, height-averaged slim disk model considered previously. However, the emission profiles and the resulting spectra are quite similar for both types of models. The effective optical depth of the slim disk becomes lower than unity for high values of the alpha parameter and for high accretion rates.

Stability of radiation-pressure dominated disks - I. The dispersion relation for a delayed heating α-viscosity prescription

We derive and investigate the dispersion relation for accretion disks with retarded or advanced heating. We follow the α-prescription but allow for a time offset τ between heating and pressure perturbations, as well as for a diminished response of heating to pressure variations. We study in detail solutions of the dispersion relation for disks with radiation-pressure fraction, 1 − β ,a ndξ, the ratio of viscous stress response to pressure perturbations. For τ 2 τth ,f orβ = 0a ndξ = 1) two real solutions exist, which are both negative. These results imply that radiation-pressure dominated accretion disks may be stabilized when there is a time delay between stress fluctuations and fluctuations in heating.

Vertical dissipation profiles and the photosphere location in thin and slim accretion disks

As several authors in the past, we calculate optically thick but geometrically thin (and slim) accretion disk models and perform a ray-tracing of photons in the Kerr geometry to calculate the observed disk continuum spectra. Previously, it was common practice to ray-trace photons assuming that they are emitted from the Kerr geometry equatorial plane, z = 0. We show that the continuum spectra calculated with this assumption differ from these calculated under the assumption that photons are emitted from the actual surface of the disc, z = H(r). This implies that a knowledge of the location of the thin disk effective photosphere is relevant for calculating the continuum emission. In this paper we investigate, in terms of a simple model, a possible influence of the (unknown, and therefore assumed ad hoc) vertical dissipation profiles on the vertical structure of the disk and thus on the location of the effective photosphere, and on the observed continuum spectra. For disks with moderate and high mass accretion rates ( u m > 0.01 u mC), we find that the photosphere location in the inner, radiation pressure dominated, disk region (where most of the radiation comes from) does not depend on the dissipation profile and therefore emerging disk spectra are insensitive to the choice of the dissipation function. For lower accretion rates, the photosphere location depends on the assumed vertical dissipation profile down to the disk inner edge, but the dependence is very weak and thus of minor importance. We conclude that the continuum spectra of optically thick accretion disks around black holes should be calculated with ray-tracing from the effective photosphere and that, fortunately, the choice of a particular vertical dissipation profile does not substantially influence the calculated emission.

Relativistic effects on radiative ejection of coronae in variable X-ray sources

Context. Optically thin coronae around neutron stars suffering an X-ray burst can be ejected as a result of rapid increase in stellar luminosity. In general relativity, radiation pressure from the central luminous star counteracts gravitational attraction more strongly than in Newtonian physics. However, motion near the neutron star is very effectively impeded by the radiation field. Aims. To explore the mechanisms leading to ejection of accretion disk coronae Methods. We perform a general relativistic calculation of the motion of a test particle in a spherically symmetric radiation field. Results. At every radial distance from the star larger than that of the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO), and any initial luminosity of the star, there exists a luminosity change which leads to coronal ejection. The luminosity required to eject from the system the inner parts of the optically thin neutron-star corona is very high in the presence of radiation drag and always close to the Eddington luminosity. Outer parts of the corona, at a distance of 20 RG or more, will be ejected by a sub-Eddington outburst. Mildly fluctuating luminosity will lead to dissipation in the plasma and may explain the observed X-ray temperatures of coronae in low mass X-ray binaries. At large radial distances from the star (3 × 103 RG or more) the results do not depend on whether or not Poynting-Robertson drag is included in the calculation.

Discovery of gamma-ray emission from the extragalactic pulsar wind nebula N157B with the High Energy Stereoscopic System

We present the significant detection of the first extragalactic pulsar wind nebula (PWN) detected in gamma rays, N157B, located in the large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Pulsars with high spin-down luminosity are found to power energised nebulae that emit gamma rays up to energies of several tens of TeV. N157B is associated with PSRJ0537-6910, which is the pulsar with the highest known spin-down luminosity. The High Energy Stereoscopic System telescope array observed this nebula on a yearly basis from 2004 to 2009 with a dead-time corrected exposure of 46 h. The gamma-ray spectrum between 600 GeV and 12 TeV is well-described by a pure power-law with a photon index of 2.8 \pm 0.2(stat) \pm 0.3(syst) and a normalisation at 1 TeV of (8.2 \pm 0.8(stat) \pm 2.5(syst)) \times 10^-13 cm^-2s^-1TeV^-1. A leptonic multi-wavelength model shows that an energy of about 4 \times 10^49erg is stored in electrons and positrons. The apparent efficiency, which is the ratio of the TeV gamma-ray luminosity to the pulsars spindown luminosity, 0.08% \pm 0.01%, is comparable to those of PWNe found in the Milky Way. The detection of a PWN at such a large distance is possible due to the pulsars favourable spin-down luminosity and a bright infrared photon-field serving as an inverse-Compton-scattering target for accelerated leptons. By applying a calorimetric technique to these observations, the pulsars birth period is estimated to be shorter than 10 ms.