Radiative Transfer and Acceleration in Magnetocentrifugal Winds

• Published in: The Astrophysical journal Vol. 631; no. 2; pp. 689 - 706
• Main Author: Everett, John E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago, IL IOP Publishing 01.10.2005; University of Chicago Press
• Subjects: Active galaxies; Quasars; Radiative acceleration; quasars: general; galaxies: jets; galaxies: active; MHD; Jets; Radiative transfer; hydrodynamics
• ISSN: 0004-637X; 1538-4357
• DOI: 10.1086/432678

Detailed photoionization and radiative acceleration of self-similar magnetocentrifugal accretion disk winds are explored. First, a general-purpose hybrid magnetocentrifugal and radiatively driven wind model is defined. Solutions are then examined to determine how radiative acceleration modifies magnetocentrifugal winds and how those winds can influence radiative driving in active galactic nuclei. For the models studied here, both radiative acceleration by bound-free ("continuum driving") and bound-bound ("line driving") processes are found to be important, although magnetic driving dominates the mass outflow rate for the Eddington ratios studied (L/L sub(Edd) = 0.001-0.1). The solutions show that shielding by a magnetocentrifugal wind can increase the efficiency of a radiatively driven wind, and also that within a magnetocentrifugal wind, radiative acceleration is sensitive to both the column in the shield, the column of the wind, and the initial density at the base of the wind.