Turbulence and Particle Heating in Advection-Dominated Accretion Flows

Abstract

We extend and reconcile recent work on turbulence and particle heating in advection-dominated accretion flows. For approximately equipartition magnetic fields, the turbulence primarily heats the electrons. For weaker magnetic fields, the protons are primarily heated. The division between electron and proton heating occurs between $β\sim 5$ and $β\sim 100$ (where $β$ is the ratio of the gas to the magnetic pressure), depending on unknown details of how Alfvén waves are converted into whistlers on scales of the proton Larmor radius. We also discuss the possibility that magnetic reconnection could be a significant source of electron heating.