Theory of Black Hole Accretion Discs

by Marek A. Abramowicz, Gunnlaugur Björnsson, James E. Pringle

Overview

This authoritative volume is the first to present a comprehensive and up-to-date review of our new understanding of accretion disks around black holes. Interest in black hole accretion disks has undergone a renaissance in recent years because of developments in three complementary areas: theoretical modeling of relativistic plasmas, numerical simulations with supercomputers, and observational tests now possible using new observatories such as the Japanese X-ray satellite, ASCAR. This volume presents review papers on all these topics from leading world authorities who gathered at an international conference in Reykjavik, Iceland. The authors are M. Abramowicz, P. Artymowicz, A. Brandenburg, G. Bjornsson, P. Charles, A. Fabian, J. Krolik, J.-P. Lasota, G. Madejski, R. Narayan, I. Novikov, J. Papaloizou, J. Poutanen, J. Pringle, M. Rees, E. Spiegel, R. Svensson, P. Witta. This timely volume provides an up-to-date review of the theory of black hole accretion disks for graduate students and researchers in astrophysics and theoretical physics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521152952
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	08/26/2010
Series:	Cambridge Contemporary Astrophysics
Pages:	308
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.70(d)

Table of Contents

Part I. Observations of Black Holes: 1. Black holes in our Galaxy: observations P. Charles; 2. Black holes in Active Galactic Nuclei: observations G. M. Madejski; Part II. Physics Close to a Black Hole: 3. Physics of black holes I. D. Novikov; 4. Physics of black hole accretion M. A. Abramowicz; Part III. Turbulence, Viscosity: 5. Disc turbulence and viscosity A. Brandenburg; Part IV. Radiative Processes: 6. The role of electron-positron pairs in accretion flows G. Björnsson; 7. Accretion disc-corona models and X/Y-ray spectra of accreting black holes J. Poutanen; 8. Emission lines: signatures of relativistic rotation A. C. Fabian; Part V. Accretion Discs: 9. Spectral tests of models for accretion disks around black holes J. H. Krolik; 10. Advection-dominated accretion around black holes R. Narayan, R. Mahadevan and E. Quataert; 11. Accretion disc instabilities and advection dominated accretion flows J.-P. Lasota; 12. Magnetic field and multi-phase gas in AGN A. Celotti and M. J. Rees; Part V. Discs in Binary Black Holes: 13. Supermassive binary black holes in galaxies P. Artymowicz; Part VI. Stability of Accretion Discs: 14. Large scale perturbation of an accretion disc by a black hole binary companion J. C. B. Papaloizou, C. Terquem and D. N. C. Lin; 15. Stable oscillations of black hole accretion discs M. Nowak and D. Lehr; Part VI. Coherant Structures: 16. Spotted discs A. Bracco, A. Provenzale, E. A. Spiegel and P. Yecko; Self-organized critically in accretion discs P. Wiita and Y. Xiong; Summary: old and new advances in black hole accretion disc theory R. Svensson.

Editorial Reviews

Review of the hardback: '… the editors should be congratulated on assembling a collection of high-quality articles'. Roger Blandford, The Observatory

From the Publisher