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The star capture model for fueling quasar accretion disks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 August 2011

Gareth F. Kennedy
Affiliation:
Institut de Ciències del Cosmos, University of Barcelona
Jordi Miralda-Escudé
Affiliation:
Institut de Ciències del Cosmos, University of Barcelona Institutució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats
Juna A. Kollmeier
Affiliation:
Carnegie Observatories, Pasadena
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Abstract

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Although the powering mechanism for quasars is now widely recognized to be the accretion of matter in a geometrically thin disk, the transport of matter to the inner region of the disk where luminosity is emitted remains an unsolved question. Miralda-Escudé & Kollmeier (2005) proposed a model whereby quasars are fuelled when stars are captured by the accretion disk as they plunge through the gas. Such plunging stars can then be destroyed and deliver their mass to the accretion disk.

Here we present the first detailed calculations for the capture of stars originating far from the accretion disk near the zone of influence of the central black hole. In particular we examine the effect of adding a perturbing mass to a fixed stellar cusp potential on bringing stars into the accretion disk where they can be captured. The work presented here will be discussed in detail in an upcoming publication Kennedy et al. (2010).

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2011

References

Goodman, J 2003 MNRAS, 339, 937CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, G. F., Miralda-Escudé, J & Kollmeier, J 2010, in preparationGoogle Scholar
Miralda-Escudé, J. & Kollmeier, J. A. (2005) ApJ, 619, 30CrossRefGoogle Scholar