A full relativistic thin disc – the physics of the plunging region and the value of the stress at the ISCO

• Published in: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Vol. 503; no. 4; pp. 5025 - 5045
• Main Author: Potter, William J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 01.06.2021
• Subjects: relativistic processes; black hole physics; X-rays: binaries; galaxies: active; accretion, accretion discs

ABSTRACT The widely used Novikov–Thorne relativistic thin disc equations are only valid down to the radius of the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO). This leads to an undetermined boundary condition at the ISCO, known as the inner stress of the disc, which sets the luminosity of the disc at the...