Accretion discs in young stellar objects (YSOs)
Figure 1: Accretion disc and jet in a proto-star HH30 observed by the Hubble Space Telescope: the jet (in red) is perpendicular to the accretion disc, seen edge-on (a dark region between two bright lobes), © Burrows, STSci/ESA, WFPC2, NASA)
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Figure 2: A proto-star star in NGC 1333. Reconstruction of a possible look of a proto-planetery disk based on a Spitzer Space Telescope image. An evidence was found for water vapor in the surrounding area, which appears to be one of the key moments in the development of a planetary system around such a star: icy material is falling from the envelope that birthed the star onto a dense, surrounding disc. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Gutermuth (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)
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During star formation, the central part of a dense molecular cloud collapses
to a proto-star with a gaseous envelope that finally settles to a rotating
proto-planetary accretion disc. Sedimentation and self-gravity in such discs
trigger the formation of planets and planetary systems.
Proto-stars are heavily embedded in surrounding gas and dust and for this reason
visible only in the infrared, millimeter or sub-millimeter wavelength bands.
Most of the material that goes into forming a star is accreted through a circumstellar
disk and in this process the proto-stellar system drives an energetic bipolar jet
and outflow into its surroundings. The least evolved proto-stars are surrounded by
remnant proto-planetary accretion disks.
Based on the spectral energy distribution in the infrared and visible light,
YSOs are divided into five classes (0-IV), associated with their evolutionary
stages. Class 0 refers to collapsing molecular clouds, proto-planetary discs
exist in classes I-III, and class IV contains the zero-age main-sequence
star.
A related issue: the extrasolar planets
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Accretion discs in cataclysmic variables (CVs)
Figure 3: U Gem system as it would be seen from the Earth. In reality, the image of the system is unresolved, and only the total flux from the secondary (red) and accretion disc (blue) is observed. The primary white dwarf is located at the centre of the accretion disk (too small to be seen). The secondary and accretion disc periodically eclipse each other, which results in periodic variations in the observed flux (photometry) and spectral features (spectroscopy). From these variations Smak (1971) reconstructed the size and shape of the accretion disc.
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CVs are binary star systems consisting of a white dwarf ("primary") and
a normal star ("secondary", or "companion"). Typically, the CVs have
sizes comparable to the Earth-Moon system, and orbital periods of
a few hours. When the outer layers of the companion overflow the "Roche
lobe", the companion loses matter through the first Lagrange point
\(L_1\) of the rotating binary system. When the white dwarf
is only weakly magnetized, the matter forms an accretion disc around
it and eventually reaches its surface. "Dwarf novae" (DN) are CVs that
show outbursts lasting for about a week and separated by weeks to months
of quiescence. U Gem is the prototype of dwarf novae. The brightness
in the visible light of U Gem increases 100-fold every 120 days or so,
and returns to the original level after a week or two. The DN phenomenon
is due to a specific accretion disc limit-cycle instability, tidal torques,
and fluctuations in the mass-transfer rate from the secondary.
The geometry of accretion is very different in magnetic CVs, where
accretion disks are truncated or absent, and accretion occur along
magnetic field lines.
There is a solid observational evidence for accretion discs in Cvs
based on very accurate photometry and spectroscopy.
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Accretion discs in Quasars and other active galactic nuclei (AGNs)
Most galaxies have supermassive (millions to billions solar masses) black holes at their
centers (nuclei). In AGNs, the black hole accretion produces radiative power that usually
outshines its host galaxy. The accretion disc is surrounded by a hot corona that contains
clouds of gas. These which move fast produce broad lines (BRL) and these which move slow
produce narrow lines (NRL) in the AGNs spectra. The large torus of gas and dust partially
obscures the central part, which is important for the observed appearance of an AGN, as
Figure 3 explains.
Figure 4: AGN unification scheme. Green arrows indicate the AGN type that is seen from a certain viewing angle
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Property |
Quasars |
Seyfert Galaxies |
Radio Galaxies
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Blazars |
Galaxy Type |
Spiral, Elliptical |
Spiral |
Giant Elliptical |
Elliptical |
Appearance |
Compact, Blue |
Compact, Bright Nucleus |
Elliptical |
Bright, Star-like |
Maximum Luminosity |
100-1,000 Milky Way |
Comparable to Bright Spirals |
Strong Radio |
10,000 Milky Way |
Continuum Spectrum |
Non-thermal |
Non-thermal |
Non-thermal |
Non-thermal |
Absorbtion Lines |
Yes |
None |
Yes |
None |
Variability |
Days to Weeks |
Days to Weeks |
Days |
Hours |
Radio Emission |
Some |
Weak |
Strong |
Weak |
Redshifts |
z > 0.5 |
z ~ 0.5 |
z < 0.05 |
z ~ 0.1 |
AGNs are generally divided into two families, "radio loud" and "radio quiet", depending
on whether they exhibit jets or not. The viewing angle gives rise to several AGN types that are
distinguished by their emission properties. Among them, the spiral galaxies with
broad and narrow emission lines (Seyfert 2 galaxies) or just narrow emission lines
(Seyfert 1 galaxies, where the dust torus obscures the BLR); the
counterparts in the radio loud family are broad (BLRG viewing angle above ~60°)
and narrow line radio galaxies (NLRG viewing angle below ~60°) with jets and radio
lobes perpendicular to the accretion disc; and radio loud and radio quiet
quasars (i.e. quasi-stellar objects). The latter are the most luminous beacons in the
universe and observed up to highest redshifts, implying cosmological distance and
gigantic energy output. Despite their name, quasi-stellar objects are thus anything but
stars. However, because quasars shine at such large distances, it is not
possible to resolve the bright core. Recent observations detect jets and
nebulosity around some of them.
Accretion discs in Microquasars and X-ray binaries
Figure 5: Microquasars found in several X-ray binaries in our Galaxy are scaled down version of quasars, as pointed out by Felix Mirabel, who also coined the name "microquasars". This figure first appeared in several Mirabel's articles.
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Figure 6: Black hole X-ray binaries in our Galaxy. Figure shows the companion star (donor) and the accretion disc. All systems drawn to scale (for comparison the Sun - Mercury distance is shown). The figure after Jerome Arthur Orosz.
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Main-sequence secondary stars in orbit with accreting neutron stars or
black holes (neutron star binaries or black hole binaries, respectively) are common objects
in the Galaxy. Neutron stars are often magnetised,
especially young ones, such that their accretion discs are disrupted by
magnetic fields or do not exist at all. Matter in these cases is lead
by partial or total column accretion to the compact object.
In comparison to CVs their spectral energy distribution is observed up to the X-ray regime, since
neutron stars and black holes own a much stronger gravitational potential.
X-ray binaries are, depending on the mass of the companion star, roughly
divided into two categories, the low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) and the
high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXB), where soft X-ray transients and X-ray pulsars
are respective sub-classes. Soft X-ray transients with both NSs and BHs show
quasi-periodic outbursts. Many, if not all, black hole X-ray
binaries exhibit in addition relativistic twin jets that propagate
along the rotational axis of the compact object and are called
microquasars.
Accretion discs in gamma ray bursts (GRBs)
The most energetic explosions in the universe are gamma-ray bursts. Models
that describe GRBs as a result of merging compact objects or failed supernova
(collapsars) generally predict a similar configuration of the end products:
the formation of a solar-mass black hole surrounded by a massive
debris disc with a huge accretion rate.
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