Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T10:00:31.878Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Radiation-Driven Warping: The Origin of Warps and Precession in Accretion Disks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

Philip R. Maloney  and
Mitchell C. Begelman
Philip R. Maloney
Affiliation:
Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309–0389
Mitchell C. Begelman*
Affiliation:
JILA, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309–0440
*
Also at Department of Astrophysical, Planetary, and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder.

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.

A geometrically thin, optically thick, warped accretion disk with a central source of luminosity is subject to non-axisymmetric forces due to radiation pressure; the resulting torque acts to modify the warp. Initially planar accretion disks are unstable to warping driven by radiation torque, as shown in a local analysis by Pringle (1996) and a global analysis of the stable and unstable modes by Maloney, Begelman, & Pringle (1996). In general, the warp also precesses.

We discuss the nature of this instability, and its possible implications for accretion disks in X-ray binaries and active galactic nuclei. Specifically, we argue that this effect provides a plausible explanation for the misalignment and precession of the accretion disks in X-ray binaries such as SS 433 and Her X–l; the same mechanism explains why the maser disk in NGC 4258 is warped.

Type
Part 7. Local and Global Instabilities and Disk Perturbations
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 163: Accretion Phenomena and Related Outflows , 1997 , pp. 311 - 320
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 1997

References

Boynton, P.E., Crosa, L.M., & Deeter, J.E. 1980, ApJ, 237, 169 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brecher, K. 1972, Nature, 239, 325 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chevalier, R.A. 1976, Astrophys. Letters, 18, 35 Google Scholar
Cowley, A.P., et al. 1991, ApJ, 381, 526 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenhill, L.J., Jiang, D.R., Moran, J.M., Reid, M.J., Lo, K.Y., & Claussen, M.J. 1995, ApJ, 440, 619 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herrnstein, J., Greenhill, L., & Moran, J. 1996, ApJ, 468, L17 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hut, P., & van den Heuvel, E.P.J. 1981, A&A, 94, 327 Google Scholar
Iping, R.C., & Petterson, J.A. 1990, A&A, 239, 221 Google Scholar
Katz, J.I. 1973, Nature Phys. Sci., 246, 87 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lasota, J.P., Abramowicz, M.A., Chen, X., Krolik, J., Narayan, R., & Yi, I. 1996, ApJ, 462, 162 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maloney, P.R., Begelman, M.C., & Nowak, M.A. 1996, in preparation.Google Scholar
Maloney, P.R., Begelman, M.C., & Pringle, J.E. 1996, ApJ, in press.Google Scholar
Maoz, E. 1995, ApJ, 447, L91 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Margon, B. 1984, ARA&A, 22, 507 Google Scholar
Merritt, D., & Petterson, J.A. 1980, ApJ, 236, 255 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miyoshi, M., Moran, J., Herrnstein, J., Greenhill, L., Nakai, N., Diamond, P., & Inoue, M. 1995, Nature, 373, 127 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neufeld, D.A., & Maloney, P.R. 1995, ApJ, 447, L19 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neufeld, D.A., Maloney, P.R., & Conger, S. 1994, ApJ, 436, L127 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Papaloizou, J.C.B., & Pringle, J.E. 1982, MNRAS, 200, 49 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petterson, J.A. 1977, ApJ, 216, 827 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petterson, J.A., Rothschild, R.E., & Gruber, D.E. 1991, ApJ, 378, 696 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Priedhorsky, W.C., & Holt, S.S. 1987, Space Sei. Rev., 45, 291 Google Scholar
Pringle, J.E. 1992, MNRAS, 258, 811 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pringle, J.E. 1996, MNRAS, 281, 357 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, W.J. 1974, ApJ, 187, 575 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schandl, S., & Meyer, F. 1994, A&A, 289, 149 Google Scholar
Smale, A.P., & Lochner, J.C. 1992, ApJ, 395, 582 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tananbaum, H., Gursky, H., Kellogg, E.M., Levinson, R., Schreier, E., & Giacconi, R. 1972, ApJ, 174, L143 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trümper, J., Kahabka, P., Ögelman, H., Pietsch, W., & Voges, W. 1986, ApJ, 300, L63 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, N.E., Nagase, F., & Parmar, A.N. 1995, in X-Ray Binaries, ed. Lewin, W.H.G., van Paradijs, J., & van den Heuvel, E.P.J. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), p. 1 Google Scholar