Turbulence in Accretion Disks

An accretion disk is an inevitable part of the star forming process. Recent years have witnessed dramatic progress in our understanding of how turbulence arises and transports angular momentum in astrophysical accretion disks. The key conceptual point is that the combination of a subthermal magnetic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAstrophysics and space science Vol. 292; no. 1-4; pp. 383 - 394
Main Author Hawley, John F.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Dordrecht Springer Nature B.V 01.07.2004
Subjects
Accretion
Accretion disks
Astrophysics
Disks
Fluid dynamics
Fluid flow
Magnetic fields
Magnetohydrodynamics
MHD
Turbulence
Turbulent flow
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Summary:An accretion disk is an inevitable part of the star forming process. Recent years have witnessed dramatic progress in our understanding of how turbulence arises and transports angular momentum in astrophysical accretion disks. The key conceptual point is that the combination of a subthermal magnetic field and outwardly decreasing differential rotation is subject to the magnetorotational instability. This rapidly generates magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) turbulence, leading to greatly enhanced angular momentum transport. Purely hydrodynamic disks, on the other hand, are stable. Disks that are too cool to couple effectively to the magnetic field will not be turbulent. Fully global three dimensional MHD simulations are now beginning to probe the properties of accretion disks from first principles.
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ISSN:0004-640X
1572-946X
DOI:10.1023/B:ASTR.0000045042.06099.19