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Effects of the energy equation in studies of limit-cycle behaviors of black hole accretion disks

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Abstract

The inconsistency of the energy equation used in the literature is pointed out and a new consistent energy equation is given. With this new energy equation, calculations are made for the limit-cycle behaviors of thermally unstable accretion disks around black holes. From the comparison of our numerical results with those obtained using the inconsistent energy equation, it is found that the inconsistent energy equation undervalues the temperature and overvalues the effective optical depth when the accreted gas becomes effectively optically thin. Thus, it is dangerous if the inconsistent energy equation is used in the studies of very hot and optically thin accretion flows such as advection-dominated accretion flows (ADAFs), and our new energy equation is likely to be a better alternative.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China

    Li Xue & JuFu Lu

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  1. Li Xue
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  2. JuFu Lu
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Correspondence to JuFu Lu.

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Supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2009CB824800), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 10673009 and 10833002), and the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province of China (Grant No. V0750001)

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Xue, L., Lu, J. Effects of the energy equation in studies of limit-cycle behaviors of black hole accretion disks. Sci. China Ser. G-Phys. Mech. Astron. 52, 954–959 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-009-0093-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-009-0093-2

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