Accretion in Radiative Equipartition (AiRE) Disks

Abstract

Standard accretion disk theory (Shakura & Sunyaev 1973) predicts that the total pressure in disks at typical (sub-)Eddington accretion rates becomes radiation pressure dominated. However, radiation pressure dominated disks are thermally unstable. Since these disks are observed in approximate steady state over the instability time-scale, our accretion models in the radiation pressure dominated regime (i.e. inner disk) need to be modified. Here, we present a modification to the SS model, where radiation pressure is in equipartition with gas pressure in the inner region. We call these flows Accretion in Radiative Equipartition (AiRE) Disks. We introduce the basic features of AiRE disks and show how they modify disk properties such as the Toomre parameter and central temperature. We then show that the accretion rate of AiRE disks is limited from above and below, by Toomre and nodal sonic point instabilities, respectively. The former leads to a strict upper limit on the mass of supermassive black holes as a function of cosmic time (and spin), while the latter could explain the transition between hard and soft states of X-ray binaries.