List of Figures
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Figure 1:
An artist’s rendition of a generic black hole accretion disk and jet. Inset figures include a time sequence of radio images from the jet in microquasar, GRS 1915+105 [204] and an optical image of the jet in quasar, M87 (Credit: J.A. Biretta et al., Hubble Heritage Team (STScI /AURA), NASA). |
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Figure 2:
Silhouettes of Sgr A* calculated for four optically thin accretion structures, characterized by very different physical conditions. The display is intentionally reversed in black-and-white and saturated in order to better show the less luminous parts. Although “dirty astrophysics” makes the most prominent differences, effects of the “pure strong gravity” are also seen in the form of “the light circle”, a tiny almost circular feature at the center. Its shape and size depends only on the black hole mass and spin. Image reproduced by permission from [297], copyright by ESO. |
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Figure 3:
Evidence for the existence of the ISCO from data recorded by the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer satellite from neutron star binary source 4U 1636–536 [33]. The source shows quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) with frequencies in the range ![]() ![]() |
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Figure 4:
In equilibrium, the equipressure surfaces should coincide with the surfaces shown by the solid lines in the right panel. Note the Roche lobe, self-crossing at the cusp. The cusp and the center, both located at the equatorial plane ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Figure 5:
Location of the sonic point as a function of the accretion rate for different values of ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Figure 6:
The number of citations to the Shakura & Sunyaev paper [279] is still growing exponentially, implying that the field of black hole accretion disk theory still has not reached saturation. Image reproduced from the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System, URL (accessed 9 Jan 2013): ![]() |
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Figure 7:
The innermost part of the disk. In the Shakura–Sunyaev and Novikov–Thorne models, the locations of the maximum pressure (a.k.a. the center) ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Figure 8:
The advection factor (ratio of advective to radiative cooling) profiles for ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Figure 9:
Profiles of the disk angular momentum ( ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Figure 10:
Flux profiles for different mass accretion rates in the case of a non-rotating black hole and two values of ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Figure 11:
Top panel: Luminosity vs accretion rate for three values of black hole spin ( ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Figure 12:
Profiles of temperature, optical depth, ratio of scale height to radius, and advection factor (the ratio of advective cooling to turbulent heating) of a hot, one- ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Figure 13:
Poloidal velocity fields ( ![]() ![]() |
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Figure 14:
Pseudo-color plots of ![]() ![]() |
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Figure 15:
Time-average mass accretion rate ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Figure 16:
Equatorial slice through hydrodynamic tori at saturation of the Papaloizou–Pringle instability showing formation of significant non-axisymmetric ( ![]() ![]() |
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Figure 17:
Specific angular momentum ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Figure 18:
Color contours of the ratio of azimuthally averaged magnetic to gas pressure, ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Figure 19:
On the left, equidensity contours calculated from an analytic Polish doughnut. On the right, equidensity contours from a numerical MHD simulation (model 90h from [99]). Note, though, that the contours on the left are linearly spaced, while those on the right are logarithmically spaced. Thus, the gradients represented on the left are shallower than those on the right. Image reproduced by permission from [253], copyright by ESO. |
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Figure 20:
Left: Time-averaged rest mass density in the ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Figure 21:
On the left is a schematic diagram of the Blandford–Znajek mechanism [49] for an assumed parabolic field distribution. On the right is the result of a numerical simulation from [158] showing a very similar structure. Images reproduced by permission; copyright RAS. |
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Figure 22:
Top: Distributions of density in the meridional plane at different simulation times, showing a magnetically arrested state (left) and a non-arrested state (right). Bottom: Snapshot of magnetic field lines at the same simulation times. Image reproduced by permission from [135], copyright by AAS. |
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Figure 23:
Left: Luminosity as a function of accretion rate for neutron star and black hole sources, illustrating that a wider range of luminosities are expected for black holes. Image reproduced by permission from [215], copyright by AAS. Right: Recent data showing that neutron star sources (open symbols) are systematically more luminous than black hole sources (filled symbols) in analogous spectral states. Image reproduced by permission from [171], copyright by Elsevier. |