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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Polar Alignment Of A Protoplanetary Disc Around An Eccentric Binary – Iii. Effect Of Disc Mass, Rebecca G. Martin, Stephen H. Lubow
Polar Alignment Of A Protoplanetary Disc Around An Eccentric Binary – Iii. Effect Of Disc Mass, Rebecca G. Martin, Stephen H. Lubow
Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research
An initially sufficiently misaligned low-mass protoplanetary disc around an eccentric binary undergoes damped nodal oscillations of tilt angle and longitude of ascending node. Dissipation causes evolution towards a stationary state of polar alignment in which the disc lies perpendicular to the binary orbital plane with angular momentum aligned to the eccentricity vector of the binary. We use hydrodynamic simulations and analytical methods to investigate how the mass of the disc affects this process. The simulations suggest that a disc with non-zero mass settles into a stationary state in the frame of the binary, the generalized polar state, at somewhat lower …
Photoionization Calculations Of The Radiation Force Due To Spectral Lines In Agns, Randall C. Dannen, Daniel Proga, Timothy R. Kallman, Tim Waters
Photoionization Calculations Of The Radiation Force Due To Spectral Lines In Agns, Randall C. Dannen, Daniel Proga, Timothy R. Kallman, Tim Waters
Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research
One of the main mechanisms that could drive mass outflows in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is radiation pressure due to spectral lines. Although straightforward to understand, the actual magnitude of the radiation force is challenging to compute because the force depends on the physical conditions in the gas, as well as the strength, spectral energy distribution (SED), and geometry of the radiation field. We present results from our photoionization and radiation transfer calculations of the force multiplier, M(ξ, t), using the same radiation field to compute the gas photoionization and thermal balance. We assume low gas density (n = 104 …
Cloud Coalescence: A Dynamical Instability Affecting Multiphase Environments, Tim Waters, Daniel Proga
Cloud Coalescence: A Dynamical Instability Affecting Multiphase Environments, Tim Waters, Daniel Proga
Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research
Mass and size distributions are the key characteristics of any astrophysical object, including the densest clumps comprising the cold phase of multiphase environments. In our recent papers, we showed how individual clouds of various sizes form and evolve in active galactic nuclei. In particular, we showed that large clouds undergo damped oscillations as a response to their formation process. Here we follow up this investigation, addressing how different size clouds interact. We find that smaller clouds become trapped in the advective flows generated by larger clouds. The explanation for this behavior leads to a rather remarkable conclusion: even in the …
Alignment Of A Circumbinary Disc Around An Eccentric Binary With Application To Kh 15d, Jeremy L. Smallwood, Stephen H. Lubow, Alessia Franchini, Rebecca G. Martin
Alignment Of A Circumbinary Disc Around An Eccentric Binary With Application To Kh 15d, Jeremy L. Smallwood, Stephen H. Lubow, Alessia Franchini, Rebecca G. Martin
Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research
We analyse the evolution of a mildly inclined circumbinary disc that orbits an eccentric orbit binary by means of smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations and linear theory. We show that the alignment process of an initially misaligned circumbinary disc around an eccentric orbit binary is significantly different than around a circular orbit binary and involves tilt oscillations. The more eccentric the binary, the larger the tilt oscillations and the longer it takes to damp these oscillations. A circumbinary disc that is only mildly inclined may increase its inclination by a factor of a few before it moves towards alignment. The …