General relativistic analysis of structure and stability of charged fluid disks around compact objects

Abstract

In this paper we give a detailed general relativistic formulation of the study of structure and stability of charged fluid disks around compact objects like black holes neglecting the self-gravitation of the disk itself. Having presented the general equations for equilibrium as well as for perturbations we solve explicitly the cases of rigidly and differentially rotating thin disks, with constant charge density and zero pressure, confined to the equatorial plane of the black hole. By using normal mode analysis we have analysed the stability of such disks under purely radial perturbations and find that the disks are generally stable.