English

Modes of Accretion in X-ray Sources

Astrophysics 2017-08-23 v1

Abstract

Three classical modes of accretion are briefly discussed: wind-fed, spherical, and disk. The three modes are illustrated with the mass transfer onto black holes in high-mass X-ray binaries. Then a new regime of mini-disk accretion is described and it is argued that observed wind-fed X-ray sources are likely to accrete in this regime. Switching from one accretion mode to another can cause the observed spectral state transitio ns.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0203064,
  title  = {Modes of Accretion in X-ray Sources},
  author = {Andrei M. Beloborodov},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0203064},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

16 pages, invited talk at "Current High-Energy Emission around Black Holes", 2nd KIAS Astrophysics Workshop, Seoul, 3-7 September 2001