Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-03T19:20:04.164Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Hyperaccretion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2006

Andrew R. King*
Affiliation:
Theoretical Astrophysics Group, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK email: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Accretion at rates exceeding the Eddington limit is common in close binaries. I summarize the arguments leading to the conclusion that such stellar–mass systems appear as ultraluminous X-ray sources when viewed close the the inner accretion disc axis, and like SS433 when viewed from other angles.

I show that AGN are unlikely to achieve electron–scattering Eddington ratios as high as ULXs, so there are few ULX analogues among quasars. However hyperaccretion of dusty matter is common among AGN. The resulting outflow naturally has a toroidal geometry, and may well be the origin of the dusty torus invoked in unified AGN schemes.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2007

References

Antonucci, R. 1993, ARA&A, 31, 473Google Scholar
Begelman, M. C. 1979, MNRAS, 187, 237CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Begelman, M. C., King, A. R., Pringle, J. E. 2006, MNRAS, 370, 399CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, A. R. 2003, ApJ, 596, L27CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, A. R. 2005, ApJ, 635, L121CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, A. R. & Begelman, M. C. 1999, ApJ, 519, L169CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, A. R. & Ritter, H. 1999, MNRAS, 309, 253CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, A. R., Taam, R. E., Begelman, M. C. 2000, ApJ, 530, L25CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pounds, K. A., Reeves, J. N., King, A. R., Page, K. L., O'Brien, P. T., Turner, M. J. L. 2003, MNRAS, 345, 705CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salpeter, E. E. 1964, ApJ, 140, 796CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shakura, N. & Sunyaev, R. 1973, A&A, 24, 337Google Scholar
Urry, C. & Padovani, P. 1995, PASP, 107, 116CrossRefGoogle Scholar