A Note on the Slim Accretion Disk Model

Abstract

We show that when the gravitational force is correctly calculated in dealing with the vertical hydrostatic equilibrium of black hole accretion disks, the relationship that is valid for geometrically thin disks, i.e., $c_s/\Omega_K H =$ constant, where $c_s$ is the sound speed, $\Omega_K$ is the Keplerian angular velocity, and $H$ is the half-thickness of the disk, does not hold for slim disks. More importantly, by adopting the correct vertical gravitational force in studies of thermal equilibrium solutions, we find that there exists a maximally possible accretion rate for each radius in the outer region of optically thick accretion flows, so that only the inner region of these flows can possibly take the form of slim disks, and strong outflows from the outer region are required to reduce the accretion rate in order for slim disks to be realized.