Epicyclic Oscillations of Fluid Bodies: Newtonian Nonslender Torus

Abstract

We study epicyclic oscillations of fluid tori around black holes (in the Paczynski-Wiita potential) and derive exact analytic expressions for their radial and vertical eigenfrequencies nur and nuz to second-order accuracy in the width of the torus. We prove that pressure effects make the eigenfrequencies smaller than those for free particles. However, the particular ratio nuz/nur=3/2, which is important for the theory of high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs), occurs when the fluid tori epicyclic frequencies nur and nuz are about 15% higher than the ones corresponding to free particles. Our results therefore suggest that previous estimates of black hole spins from QPOs have produced values that are too high.

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