EDP Sciences Journals List
Advanced Search
Subscriber Authentication Point
Home All issues Volume 441/3 Article
Free access article

Issue A&A
Volume 441, Number 3, October III 2005
Page(s) 863 - 872
Section Astrophysical processes
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20053091



A&A 441, 863-872 (2005)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20053091

Radiative effects in supersonic wind accretion onto gravitating objects

I. Kryukov1, 2, N. Pogorelov2, U. Anzer3, G. Börner3 and G. Bisnovatyi-Kogan4

1  Institute for Problems in Mechanics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 101-1 Vernadskii Avenue, 119526 Moscow, Russia
    e-mail: kryukov@ipmnet.ru
2  Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
    e-mail: nikolai.pogorelov@ucr.edu
3  Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschild-Straße 1, 85741 Garching, Germany
    e-mail: [ula;grb]@mpa-garching.mpg.de
4  Space Research Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Profsoyuznaya St. 84/32, 117810 Moscow, Russia
    e-mail: kogan@mx.iki.rssi.ru

(Received 18 March 2005 / Accepted 24 June 2005 )

Abstract
We investigate the influence of radiative effects on supersonic wind accretion onto gravitating objects. The accreting matter is assumed to be optically thin. The physical mechanisms taken into account include cooling due to free-free and free-bound transitions, the Compton heating via X-ray scattering on electrons and the inverse Compton cooling in the regions where the temperature of the matter becomes sufficiently large to be able to transfer part of its internal energy to photons. A wide range of determining parameters was covered, including the values applicable to the Vela X-1 binary system, but our main emphasis is on the study of the effects of radiative processes on the behavior of accretion flows. It is shown that the applicability of polytropic accretion models is very limited and the actual accretion rate can be considerably lower than that provided by the Bondi-Hoyle-Lyttleton formula. The detailed consideration of the realistic radiative effects proved to be of great importance in our understanding of the accretion phenomenon, since they can substantially affect it both qualitatively and quantitatively.


Key words: stars: neutron -- shock waves -- methods: numerical -- radiative transfer -- accretion, accretion disks

SIMBAD Objects



© ESO 2005


What is OpenURL?

The OpenURL standard is a protocol for transmission of metadata describing the resource that you wish to access. An OpenURL link contains article metadata and directs it to the OpenURL server of your choice. The OpenURL server can provide access to the resource and also offer complementary services (specific search engine, export of references...). The OpenURL link can be generated by different means.
  • If your librarian has set up your subscription with an OpenURL resolver, OpenURL links appear automatically on the abstract pages.
  • You can define your own OpenURL resolver with your EDPS Account. In this case your choice will be given priority over that of your library.
  • You can use an add-on for your browser (Firefox or I.E.) to display OpenURL links on a page (see http://www.openly.com/openurlref/). You should disable this module if you wish to use the OpenURL server that you or your library have defined.