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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

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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

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