Schedule Aug 17, 2007
Rotational Instability in Accretion Shock
Seong-Jae Lee (Chungnam Nat'l Univ.)

Seong-Jae* Lee and Dongsu Ryu*

We studied the structure formed around a black hole as a consequence of one-dimensional, quasi-spherical, supersonic accretion flows. The structure accompanies an accretion shock, inside which the flow is subsonic and is dissipated by viscosity. The dissipated energy is assumed to be mostly stored as entropy rather than being radiated. We found that the viscous angular momentum transfer should cause ∂l⁄∂r<0, close to the accretion shock. Here l is the specific angular momentum and r is the distance from black hole. Hence, the flow there is subject to rotational instability. The rotational instability results in creating new shocks. We present the unstable flow structure with the accretion shock induced by the rotational instability.

*Department of Astronomy and Space Science, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 305-764, S. Korea

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