Relativistic Adiabatic Shocks in Accretion Flows

Abstract

Accretion flows onto compact astronomical sources are likely to be supersonic, and shock waves may therefore be common in such flows. Plasma passing through a shock front will be compressed and heated according to the jump conditions across the shock discontinuity. Shocks in accretion flows may therefore have important consequences for the flow structure and emission characteristics. The equations governing adiabatic (nonradiative) shocks in relativistic plasmas are presented including the effects of radiation pressure and energy density, and pair equilibria in the postshock flow. We find that postshock states for accretion flows within cool, optically thick, accretion-driven sources such as AGN become radiation- or pair-dominated, and the postshock plasma will likely become optically thin before returning to steady-state conditions.