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Dynamics of Low Luminosity Accretion onto Neutron Stars: Spherically Symmetric Models

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

John C. L. Wang  and
Ralph S. Sutherland
John C. L. Wang
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
Ralph S. Sutherland
Affiliation:
Australian National University Astrophysical Theory Centreand Mt. Stromlo Observatory, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia

Extract

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The ~ 108−109 old neutron stars in the Galaxy may be undergoing low luminosity accretion from the interstellar medium (Ostriker et al. 1970; Shvartsman 1971). It was first recognized by Shvartsman (1971) that the accretion induced radiation from the stellar surface can heat the infalling material, which in turn inhibits further accretion. This preheating instability has been studied in detail in the high luminosity regime where equilibrium ionization and heating holds (e.g., Buff & McCray 1974; Ostriker et al. 1976; Cowie et al. 1978). In the low luminosity regime, however, dynamical timescales are typically much shorter than atomic timescales so the accretion flow dynamics is strongly coupled to non-equilibrium (NEQ) atomic processes (cf. Blaes et al. 1995).

Type
Part 15. Poster Papers
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 163: Accretion Phenomena and Related Outflows , 1997 , pp. 824 - 825
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 1997

References

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