The correlation timescale of the X-ray flux during the outbursts of soft X-ray transients

Recent studies of black hole and neutron star low mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) show a positive correlation between the X-ray flux at which the low/hard(LH)-to-high/soft(HS) state transition occurs and the peak flux of the following HS state. By analyzing the data from the All Sky Monitor (ASM) onboard the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), we show that the HS state flux after the source reaches its HS flux peak still correlates with the transition flux during soft X-ray transient (SXT) outbursts. By studying large outbursts or flares of GX 339-4, Aql X-1 and 4U 1705-44, we have found that the correlation holds up to 250, 40, and 50 d after the LH-to-HS state transition, respectively. These time scales correspond to the viscous time scale in a standard accretion disk around a stellar mass black hole or a neutron star at a radius of ∼10^4–5 R _g, indicating that the mass accretion rates in the accretion flow either correlate over a large range of radii at a given time or correlate over a long period of time at a given radius. If the accretion geometry is a two-flow geometry composed of a sub-Keplerian inflow or outflow and a disk flow in the LH state, the disk flow with a radius up to ∼10⁵ R _g would have contributed to the nearly instantaneous non-thermal radiation directly or indirectly, and therefore affects the time when the state transition occurs.

     

On the effect of injection of gas in the numerical simulation of accretion flows

We investigate the effects of various ways of injection of gas at the outer boundary in the numerical simulations of non-viscous accretion flows. We study three models. In Model A, we inject material around the equatorial plane. In Models B and C, fullrange θ injection is used (we employ spherical coordinates). In all three models, the injected material has the same density distribution with polar angle θ. From the equatorial region to the polar regions, angular momentum of the injected material of Model B decreases faster than that in Model C. For all of the models, after a transient episode of infall at the beginning of the simulations, the gas piles up in the equatorial regions outside the black hole and forms a thick torus bounded by a centrifugal barrier. We find that the accretion rates of Models B and C are more than ten times higher than that in Model A. In Model A, there is weak accretion only in the torus and outflows are found on the surface of the torus. In Model B, we find strong inflows on the surface of its torus, and the accretion in the torus is weak. In Model C, strong inflows also occur on the surface of its torus, but the accretion regions are narrower and there are strong outflows in its torus. In all of our models, the time-averaged density, pressure and angular momentum in the equatorial region can be described by a radial power law, with P ∝r ^−3/2, P ∝r ⁻² and l∝r ⁰.

     

X-ray emission from non-Keplerian magnetically dominated accretion disks

Summary Most accretion disk models do assume Keplerian rotation as the ?natural? one. This is not so obvious and is somewhat aprioristic, as shown by some attempts to follow different approaches. In the present work we suggest a new approach to the problem, pointing out that the disk structure is deeply related to the balance between the magnetic energy produced by dynamo action and the rotational energy associated with the accreting flow. This balance, together with the conservation laws, allows us to derive analytically the angular-velocity field, the radial velocity field and the magnetic-energy distribution inside the disk. As far as the disk X-ray emission is concerned, we adopt the point of view that the buoyancy and emergence at the disk surface of the azimuthal magnetic field generated by differential rotation gives rise to looplike structures in a hot magnetically confined corona, which is not merely overimposed, as in other models, but ?naturally? fits to the disk structure. The magnetic-energy dissipation into the coronal medium, which sustains the X-ray luminosity, is due to twisting of the magnetic loops. we give an exact analytical expression for the integrated luminosityL _x in terms of the mass of the compact object, the accretion rate, the disk size and rotational velocity, and show that in the limitr _i≪r _e (wherer _i andr _e are the inner and the outer radius of the accretion disk, respectively) it agrees fairly well with the characteristic observed values of both galactic and extragalactic strong compact sources, within the reasonable range commonly accepted for the relevant parameters. Paper presented at the 2° Convegno Nazionale di Fisica Cosmica, held at L'Aquila, 29 May–2 June 1984.     

Optical results of the black hole microquasar SS 433

We present optical spectroscopic observations of SS 433 during different precessional and orbital phases. Our 2004, 2007 and 2008 data provide us a good chance to study the variability of the Hα line at different orbital phases for nearly the same disk inclination. The data show that the Hα of SS 433 usually had a symmetric profile between orbital phases 0.25–0.75, while an asymmetric structure with a strong red peak was observed for other orbital phases. We suggest that the orbital variability of Hα emission is connected with accretion flow from the donor star to the accretion disk. In addition, we attribute the dramatic increase of Hα emission during our 2007 observational run, which had a time scale of one day, to the emergence of strong jets.

     

An analytic relation for the thickness of accretion flows

We take the vertical distribution of the radial and azimuthal velocities into account in spherical coordinates, and find that the analytic relation c _s0/ν _K Θ=[(γ−1)/2γ]^1/2 is valid for both geometrically thin and thick accretion flows, where c _s0 is the sound speed on the equatorial plane, ν _K is the Keplerian velocity, Θ is the half-opening angle of the flow, and γ is the adiabatic index.

     

Self-similarity of far wake behind tandem of two disks

In this work we used digital particle image visualization (PIV) to experimentally establish the self-similarity of far wake behind a tandem of two disks of a diameter D (300 mm) with a common axis along the incident flow. The research was performed in a water flume (Re ≈ 2 · 10⁵) with variation of L, the longitudinal dimension of the tandem. The self-similarity of the velocity profile in the wake behind the tandem has been established; the level of turbulent fluctuations of the profile has been measured. Due to the influence of the second disk, the velocity deficit in the wake behind the tandem exceeded the corresponding value for a single disk, being independent of the distance between the disks (L = 4–8D). The velocity fluctuations behind the tandem did not differ much from the level of fluctuations in the case of a single disk up to a distance of forty calibers downstream, where the wake ceased to differ from the background of natural turbulent fluctuations of the incident flow. It has been found that the position of the second disk in the tandem affects the energy loss in the wake due to its expansion but does not influence the decay. The revealed patterns in the wake development behind tandems of bodies will enable optimization of construction of systems of repetitive elements and their movement in different flows.     

Molecular simulations of electroosmotic flows in rough nanochannels

A highly efficient molecular dynamics algorithm for micro and nanoscale electrokinetic flows is developed. The long-range Coulomb interactions are calculated using the Particle–Particle Particle–Mesh (P³M) approach. The Poisson equation for the electrostatic potential is solved in physical space using an iterative multi-grid technique. After validation, the method is used to study electroosmotic flow in nanochannels with regular or random roughness on the walls. The results show that roughness reduces the electroosmotic flow rate dramatically even though the roughness is very small compared to the channel width. The effect is much larger than for pressure driven flows because the driving force is localized near the walls where the charge distribution is high. Non-Newtonian behavior is also observed at much lower flow rates. Systematic investigation of the effect of surface charge density and random roughness will help to better understand the mechanism of electrokinetic transport in rough nanochannels and to design and optimize nanofluidic devices.     

Investigation of low-temperature electrical conduction mechanisms in highly resistive GaN bulk layers extracted with Simple Parallel Conduction Extraction Method

The electrical conduction mechanisms in various highly resistive GaN layers of Al _x Ga_1−x N/AlN/GaN/AlN heterostructures are investigated in a temperature range between T=40 K and 185 K. Temperature-dependent conductivities of the bulk GaN layers are extracted from Hall measurements with implementing simple parallel conduction extraction method (SPCEM). It is observed that the resistivity (ρ) increases with decreasing carrier density in the insulating side of the metal–insulator transition for highly resistive GaN layers. Then the conduction mechanism of highly resistive GaN layers changes from an activated conduction to variable range hopping conduction (VRH). In the studied temperature range, ln (ρ) is proportional to T ^−1/4 for the insulating sample and proportional to T ^−1/2 for the more highly insulating sample, indicating that the transport mechanism is due to VRH.     

Chandra observations of the H2O megamaser galaxy Mrk1210

We present the first Chandra X-ray observations of the H₂O megamaser galaxy Mrk1210 (UGC4203), a Seyfert 2 galaxy at an approximate distance of D ～ 57.6 Mpc. The Chandra X-ray image, with by far the highest angular resolution (～1″), displays an unresolved compact core toward the nuclear region of Mrk1210. Comparisons with the previous X-ray observations in the nuclear emission and the spectral shape indicate a fairly stable phase between 2001 (BeppoSAX and XMM-Newton) and 2004 (Chandra) after a dramatic variation since 1995 (ASCA). The best-fit model of Chandra X-ray spectrum consists of two components. The soft scattered component can be best fitted by a moderately absorbed power-law model adding a spectral line at ～0.9 keV (possibly a Ne-Kα fluorescent line), while the hard nuclear component can be well reproduced by a heavily absorbed power-law model (N _H ～ 2×10²³ cm^?2) with an additional line at ～6.19 keV (close to the Fe-Kα fluorescent line). The derived absorption-corrected X-ray luminosity implies that the dramatic variation of spectral properties is caused by significant changes of the absorbing column density along the line-of-sight, while the intrinsic nuclear X-ray luminosity remains stable. In this case, the absorbers should be anisotropic and its size can be constrained to be less than 0.0013 pc. In addition, we also estimate the mass of central engine, the disk radius and the accretion rate of the accretion disk to be 10^7.12±0.31 M _⊙, ～1 pc and 0.006, respectively.

     

A black hole spectral signature

An accreting black hole is, by definition, characterized by the drain. Namely, the matter falls into a black hole much the same way as water disappears down a drain — matter goes in and nothing comes out. As this can only happen in a black hole, it provides a way to see “a black hole”, an unique observational signature. The accretion proceeds almost in a free-fall manner close to the black hole horizon, where the strong gravitational field dominates the pressure forces. In this paper we present analytical calculations and Monte-Carlo simulations of the specific features of X-ray spectra formed as a result of upscattering of the soft (disk) photons in the converging inflow (CI) into the black hole. The full relativistic treatment has been implemented to reproduce these spectra. We show that spectra in the soft state of black hole systems (BHS) can be described as the sum of a thermal (disk) component and the convolution of some fraction of this component with the CI upscattering spread (Greens) function. The latter boosted photon component is seen as an extended power-law at energies much higher than the characteristic energy of the soft photons. We demonstrate the stability of the power spectral index over a wide range of the plasma temperature 0 – 10 keV and mass accretion rates (higher than 2 in Eddington units). We also demonstrate that the sharp high energy cutoff occurs at energies of 200–400 keV which are related to the average energy of electrons m_ec² impinging upon the event horizon. The spectrum is practically identical to the standard thermal Comptonization spectrum when the CI plasma temperature is getting of order of 50 keV (the typical ones for the hard state of BHS). In this case one can see the effect of the bulk motion only at high energies where there is an excess in the CI spectrum with respect to the pure thermal one. Furthermore we demonstrate that the change of spectral shapes from the soft X-ray state to the hard X-ray state is clearly to be related with the temperature of the bulk flow. In other words the effect of the bulk Comptonization compared to the thermal one is getting stronger when the plasma temperature drops below 10 keV. We clearly demonstrate that these spectra emerging from the converging inflow are a inevitable stamp of the BHS where the strong gravitational field dominates the pressure forces.     

On Stephany's theory of origin of 1/f bulk noise

Summary Stephany's treatment is not correct since he neglects the friction force proportional to the velocity, which we show to be universal,i.e. present in any mechanism of electric conduction. Moreover his predicted power spectral density is in some cases three orders of magnitude larger than the observed one. Finally, his noise cannot be the true 1/f noise because it should predict a low cut-off of ∼5·10⁻² Hz due to the transit time of the electron-linked lattice (ELL) carriers through a distance of 20 μm while no cut-off has been observed down to 10⁻³ Hz.     

Boron 10B—11B Isotope Substitution as a Probe of the Mechanism Responsible for the Record Thermionic Emission in LaB6 with the Jahn—Teller Instability1

We have tested the conduction band electrons of lanthanum hexaboride that is among the most effective electron-beam sources with one of the highest brightness of thermionic emission. We performed infrared spectroscopic, DC (direct current) resistivity and Hall-effect studies of LaB₆ single crystals with various ¹⁰B and ¹¹B isotope contents. We find that only a small amount of conduction electrons behave as Drude-type charge carriers while about 70% of the electrons are involved in collective oscillations of electron density coupled to vibrations of both the Jahn-Teller unstable rigid boron cage and rattling modes of La-ions loosely bound to the lattice. We suggest that exactly these non-equilibrium conduction electrons determine the extraordinary low work function of thermoemission in LaB₆.

     

Maximal possible accretion rates for slim disks

It was proved in the previous work that there must be a maximal possible accretion rate $ \dot M_{max} $ \dot M_{max} for a slim disk. Here we discuss how the value of $ \dot M_{max} $ \dot M_{max} depends on the two fundamental parameters of the disk, namely the mass of the central black hole M and the viscosity parameter α. It is shown that $ \dot M_{max} $ \dot M_{max} increases with decreasing α, but is almost independent of M if $ \dot M_{max} $ \dot M_{max} is measured by the Eddington accretion rate $ \dot M_{Edd} $ \dot M_{Edd} , which is in turn proportional to M.     

The self-similarity of wall-bounded temporally accelerating turbulent flows

From the study of viscous flow it is known that certain time-dependent laminar problems, such as the impulsively started flat plate and the diffusion of a vortex sheet, possess self-similar solutions. Previous studies of turbulent channel and pipe flows accelerating between two steady states have shown that the flow field evolves in three distinct stages. Furthermore, recent direct numerical simulations have shown that the perturbation velocity, i.e. the surplus velocity from the initial value, in an impulsively accelerating turbulent channel and pipe flow also possesses a self-similar distribution during the initial stage. In here, these results are developed analytically and it is shown that accelerating flows in which the centreline velocity develops as U^∧_c(t) = U₀(t/t₀)^m will possess a self-similar velocity distribution during the initial stage. The displacement thickness of the perturbation velocity is shown to be dependent only on the type of acceleration, and not on the initial Reynolds number, the acceleration rate or the change in Reynolds number. The derived formulas are verified with good agreement against measurements performed in a linearly accelerating turbulent pipe flow and with data from channel flow simulations.     

Gas flow characteristics of argon inductively coupled plasma and advections of plasma species under incompressible and compressible flows

In this work, incompressible and compressible flows of background gas are characterized in argon inductively coupled plasma by using a fluid model, and the respective influence of the two flows on the plasma properties is specified. In the incompressible flow, only the velocity variable is calculated, while in the compressible flow, both the velocity and density variables are calculated. The compressible flow is more realistic; nevertheless, a comparison of the two types of flow is convenient for people to investigate the respective role of velocity and density variables. The peripheral symmetric profile of metastable density near the chamber sidewall is broken in the incompressible flow. At the compressible flow, the electron density increases and the electron temperature decreases. Meanwhile, the metastable density peak shifts to the dielectric window from the discharge center, besides for the peripheral density profile distortion, similar to the incompressible flow.The velocity profile at incompressible flow is not altered when changing the inlet velocity, whereas clear peak shift of velocity profile from the inlet to the outlet at compressible flow is observed as increasing the gas flow rate. The shift of velocity peak is more obvious at low pressures for it is easy to compress the rarefied gas. The velocity profile variations at compressible flow show people the concrete residing processes of background molecule and plasma species in the chamber at different flow rates. Of more significance is it implied that in the usual linear method that people use to calculate the residence time, one important parameter in the gas flow dynamics, needs to be rectified. The spatial profile of pressure simulated exhibits obvious spatial gradient. This is helpful for experimentalists to understand their gas pressure measurements that are always taken at the chamber outlet. At the end, the work specification and limitations are listed.     

The effect of strong electric and magnetic fields on the depolarization ratios of gases

The influence of a strong electric field F on the polarization of light scattered elastically by small gaseous molecules is investigated. Two effects are found:

• (i) The field distorts the molecules, thereby changing their polarizabilities. If they are isotropically polarizable when F = 0, and hence capable of scattering only polarized light from a parallel beam, this distortion may lead to depolarization. For inert gas atoms, this depolarization is proportional to F ⁴, and hence normally very small, but for tetrahedral molecules it is proportional to β ² F ², where β is the first hyperpolarizability of the molecule.

• (ii) F tends to orientate anisotropic molecules, thereby affecting the polarization of the scattered light; this effect is related to the anisotropy in the molecular polarizability, and to the dipole moment, but is not likely to lead to information that is not obtainable by simpler means.

The effect of a strong magnetic field, in place of F, is also discussed.     

A toy model for magnetized neutrino-dominated accretion flows

In this paper, we present a simplified model for a magnetized neutrino-dominated accretion flow (NDAF) in which the effect of black hole (BH) spin is taken into account by adopting a set of relativistic correction factors, and the magnetic field is parameterized as β, the ratio of the magnetic pressure to the total pressure. It is found that the disc properties are sensitive to the values of the BH spin and β, and more energy can be extracted from NDAFs by using a faster spin and lower β.

     

Rotational analog of the Hall effect: Coriolis contribution to electric current

A galvanogyroscopic effect which is the rotational analog of the gravitomagnetic Hall effect has been proposed. As a consequence of Ohm’s law in the rotating frame, the effect of the Coriolis force on the conduction current is predicted to give rise to an azimuthal potential differenceV _gg about 10^-3V in a spinning rotor carrying radial electric currenti _r. The potential difference developed by the galvanogyroscopic effect is proportional both to angular velocity Ω and to the electric current.     

Statistics of Advective Stretching in Three-dimensional Incompressible Flows

We present a method to quantify kinematic stretching in incompressible, unsteady, isoviscous, three-dimensional flows. We extend the method of Kellogg and Turcotte (J. Geophys. Res. 95:421–432, 1990) to compute the axial stretching/thinning experienced by infinitesimal ellipsoidal strain markers in arbitrary three-dimensional incompressible flows and discuss the differences between our method and the computation of Finite Time Lyapunov Exponent (FTLE). We use the cellular flow model developed in Solomon and Mezic (Nature 425:376–380, 2003) to study the statistics of stretching in a three-dimensional unsteady cellular flow. We find that the probability density function of the logarithm of normalised cumulative stretching (log S) for a globally chaotic flow, with spatially heterogeneous stretching behavior, is not Gaussian and that the coefficient of variation of the Gaussian distribution does not decrease with time as t^-\frac12t^{-\frac{1}{2}} . However, it is observed that stretching becomes exponential log S∼t and the probability density function of log S becomes Gaussian when the time dependence of the flow and its three-dimensionality are increased to make the stretching behaviour of the flow more spatially uniform. We term these behaviors weak and strong chaotic mixing respectively. We find that for strongly chaotic mixing, the coefficient of variation of the Gaussian distribution decreases with time as t^-\frac12t^{-\frac{1}{2}} . This behavior is consistent with a random multiplicative stretching process.     

Large scale correlations for energy injection mechanisms in swirling turbulent flows

We report an experimental study of large scale correlations in the power injected in turbulent swirling flows generated in the gap between two coaxial rotating disks. We measure the pressure fluctuations on the blades of one disk, as well as the pressure drop between the leading and the trailing edges of the rotating blades, i.e. the local drag force. Measurements at different positions on one blade and on two successive blades display a correlation length much larger than the ones usually expected in turbulent flows. The time lag for which the correlation between two points is maximum, strongly depends on the global flow configuration. These results help us to understand the statistical properties of the injected power fluctuations in turbulent swirling flows. Received 2 September 1999