Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1983

Abstract

A hot, two-temperature accretion disk can be a strong γ-ray and relativistic particle source. This occurs when the accretion rate is high enough -- M/ M ≥ 3 X 10^-9 α γr^-1 for a canonical Kerr black hole-due to the high ion temperature in the inner disk. We present detailed photon and particle spectra for specific disk models. The predicted γ-ray flux is as high as 10% of the bolometric luminosity in sub-Eddington models. Most of the γ-radiation is continuous, due to the π^0 decay, emitted around 100 MeV but degraded to a few MeV in optically thick models. Spectral lines, due to positon annihilation or to excited nuclei, provide only a small amount of the primary γ-ray luminosity. The energy flux in - 35 MeV pairs is comparable to the γ-ray luminosity; Penrose effects provide a smaller number of - I Ge V pairs. Applications of the model both to galactic and extragalactic sources are discussed. Both the galactic center y-ray source and the extragalactic y-ray background (if it is due to discrete sources) may be due to this type of model.

Comments

This article was originally published in Astrophysical Journal, volume 271, in 1983. DOI: 10.1086/161246

Peer Reviewed

1

Copyright

IOP Publishing

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