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At least 613 records · Page 34
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1992

Local magnetohydrodynamic instabilities and the wave-driven dynamo in accretion disks

We consider the consequences of magnetic buoyancy and the magnetic shearing instability (MSI) on the strength and organization of the magnetic field in a thin accretion disk. We discuss a model in which the wave-driven dynamo growth rate is balanced by the dissipative effects of the MSI. As in earlier work, the net helicity is due to small advective motions driven by nonlinear interactions between internal waves. Assuming a simple model of the internal wave spectrum generated from the primary m = 1 internal waves, we find that the magnetic energy density saturates at about (H/r) exp 4/3 times the local pressure (where H is the disk thickness and r is its radius). On very small scales the shearing instability will produce an isotropic fluctuating field. For a stationary disk this is equivalent to a dimensionless 'viscosity' of about (H/r) exp 4/3. The vertical and radial diffusion coefficients will be comparable to each other. Magnetic buoyancy will be largely suppressed by the turbulence due to the MSI. We present a rough estimate of its effects and find that it removes magnetic flux from the disk at a rate comparable to that caused by turbulent diffusion.

Vishniac, Ethan T.↗
NASA NTRS1992

A powerful local shear instability in weakly magnetized disks. III - Long-term evolution in a shearing sheet. IV - Nonaxisymmetric perturbations

The nonlinear evolution of the recently identified accretion disk magnetic shear instability is investigated through a series of numerical simulations. Finite-difference computations of the equations of compressible MHD are carried out on an axisymmetric shearing sheet system with periodic boundary conditions designed to approximate a local region within an accretion disk. Initial field configurations that include some net vertical component evolve into a nonlinear, exponentially growing solution with large poloidal velocities and magnetic fields with energies comparable to the thermal energy density. The stability of a purely azimuthal field configuration is examined, and it is found that nonaxisymmetric instability is present, but with a growth time measured in tens of orbital periods. In general, the most rapid growth occurs for very small radial and azimuthal wavenumbers, leading to coherent magnetic field structure in planes parallel to the disk. It is suggested that this instability is a key ingredient for the generation of magnetic fields in disks.

Hawley, John F.↗
NASA NTRS1993

An instability associated with a magnetosphere-disk interaction

The evolution of a thin accretion disk surrounding a rapidly rotating magnetosphere is considered. By taking account of the variations of the magnetospheric boundary in response to the conditions at the inner edge of the disk, we find from linear analysis and numerical computation that the accretion disk can become unstable. Mass can be accreted by the central object in a cyclic fashion, with the cycle involving the storage and release of mass in the inner parts of the disk. The physical origin of the instability is associated with the variations of the magnetospheric boundary about corotation. The recurrence time scale of the cycle can vary by several orders of magnitude depending on the details of the conditions at the magnotosphere. The possible applicability of this instability process to the 'rapid burster' MXB 1730-335 is briefly discussed.

Spruit, H. C.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Mass loss from pre-main-sequence accretion disks. I - The accelerating wind of FU Orionis

We present evidence that the wind of the pre-main-sequence object FU Orionis arises from the surface of the luminous accretion disk. A disk wind model calculated assuming radiative equilibrium explains the differential behavior of the observed asymmetric absorption-line profiles. The model predicts that strong lines should be asymmetric and blueshifted, while weak lines should be symmetric and double-peaked due to disk rotation, in agreement with observations. We propose that many blueshifted 'shell' absorption features are not produced in a true shell of material, but rather form in a differentially expanding wind that is rapidly rotating. The inference of rapid rotation supports the proposal that pre-main-sequence disk winds are rotationally driven.

Calvet, Nuria↗
NASA NTRS1993

Magnetic field in a low-mass protostar disk - Millimeter polarimetry of IRAS 16293-2422

We have measured the millimeter polarization of IRAS 16293-2422, a low-mass protostar candidate embedded in the east streamer of the Rho Ophiuchi dark cloud. The source has a linear polarization at 1.1 mm of (2.8 +/- 0.5) percent at a position angle of 144 deg +/- 5 deg with a 19 arcsec beam. If this polarization is due to thermal emission from magnetically aligned nonspherical grains in a dust disk around the central (proto)star, then the magnetic field threads across the disk at a position angle of 54 deg +/- 5 deg projected on the sky. This direction is the same as that of the minor axis of the elongated circumstellar gas disk (of scale 1600 AU) and of the direction of one of the quadratic outflows. There is no positive evidence for a twisted magnetic field in the dust disk, which constrains the hydromagnetic models for molecular outflows, at least for this source.

Tamura, Motohide↗
NASA NTRS1993

Gamma-ray bursts from stellar mass accretion disks around black holes

A cosmological model for gamma-ray bursts is explored in which the radiation is produced as a broadly beamed pair fireball along the rotation axis of an accreting black hole. The black hole may be a consequence of neutron star merger or neutron star-black hole merger, but for long complex bursts, it is more likely to come from the collapse of a single Wolf-Rayet star endowed with rotation ('failed' Type Ib supernova). The disk is geometrically thick and typically has a mass inside 100 km of several tenths of a solar mass. In the failed supernova case, the disk is fed for a longer period of time by the collapsing star. At its inner edge the disk is thick to its own neutrino emission and evolves on a viscous time scale of several seconds. In a region roughly 30 km across, interior to the accretion disk and along its axis of rotation, a pair fireball is generated by neutrino annihilation and electron-neutrino scattering which deposit approximately 10 exp 50 ergs/s.

Woosley, S. E.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Observational evidence for thin AGN disks

AGN spectrum and spectral features, polarization, inclination, and X-ray line and continuum reflection features are discussed in a critical way in order to determine the ones that are the least model-dependent. The sign and strength of absorption and emission edges are found to be model-dependent, and relativistic broadening and shifting makes them hard to detect. The presence or absence of the predicted Lyman edge polarization feature may be used as a decisive test for thin, bare AGN disks. Other good model-independent tests are several inclination-related line and continuum correlations in big AGN samples. It is shown that electron temperature near the surface of the disk can greatly exceed the disk equilibrium temperature, which causes deviations from LTE. This effect must be incorporated into realistic disk models.

Netzer, Hagai↗
NASA NTRS1992

Diskoseismology - Signatures of black hole accretion disks

General relativity requires the existence of a spectrum of oscillations which are trapped near the inner edge of accretion disks around black holes. We have developed a general formalism for analyzing the normal modes of such acoustic perturbations of arbitrary thin disk models, approximating the dominant relativistic effects via a modified Newtonian potential (these modes do not exist in Newtonian gravity). The eigenfunctions and eigenfrequencies of a variety of disk models are found to fall in to two main classes, which are analogous to the p-modes and g-modes in the sun. In this work, we compute the eigenfunctions and eigenfrequencies of isothermal disks. The (relatively small) rates of growth or damping of these oscillations due to gravitational radiation and parameterized models of viscosity are also computed.

Nowak, Michael↗
NASA NTRS1993

Conjugate heat transfer from a heated disk to a thin liquid film formed by a controlled impinging jet

An experimental and numerical study of the heat transfer from a heated horizontal disk to a thin film of liquid is described. The liquid was delivered to the disk by a collar arrangement such that the film thickness and radial velocity were known at the outer radius of the collar. This method of delivery is termed as a controlled impinging jet. Flow visualization tests were performed and heat transfer data were collected along the radius of the disk for different volumetric flow rates and inlet temperatures in the supercritical and subcritical regions. The heat transfer coefficient was found to increase with flow rate when both supercritical and subcritical regions were present on the heated surface. A numerical simulation of this free surface problem was performed, which included the effects of conjugate heat transfer within the heated disk and the liquid. The numerical predictions agree with the experimental results and show that conjugate heat transfer has a significant effect on the local wail temperature and heat transfer coefficient.

Faghri, A.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Spectrally resolved eclipse maps of the accretion disk in UX Ursae Majoris

An effort is made to observationally constrain accretion disks on the basis of light curves from the eclipsing cataclysmic variable UX Ursae Majoris, reconstructing the spectral energy distribution across the face of an accretion disk. The spectral resolution obtained suffices to reveal not only the radial dependence of absorption and emission line features within the disk, but also the spectral details of the bright spot that is formed where the accretion stream from the secondary star collides with the disk. The importance of such constraints for theoretical models is noted.

Rutten, Rene G. M.↗
NASA NTRS1993

The evolution of protoplanetary disks

Accretion disks evolve by transferring angular momentum outwards, which allows mass to flow inwards onto the central object. The radial structure and time-dependent behavior of low-mass, Keplerian, viscous disks is analyzed. Potential mechanisms for the angular momentum transport in disks are reviewed. An evolutionary model of a low mass disk around a pulsar is presented.

Ruden, Steven P.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Equatorial disk formation around rotating stars due to ram pressure confinement by the stellar wind

The axisymmetric 2D supersonic solution of a rotating, radiation-driven stellar wind presently obtained by a simple approximation predicts the formation of a dense equatorial disk, when the star's rotation rate lies above a threshold value that depends on the ratio of the wind's terminal speed to the escape speed of the star. The disk is formed because the trajectories of the wind leaving the stellar surface at high latitudes carry it down to the equatorial plane; there, the material passes through a standing oblique shock atop the disk; it is therefore the ram pressure of the polar wind that compresses and confines the disk.

Bjorkman, J. E.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Two-dimensional viscous accretion disk models. II - On viscous overstability

Accretion disks have been shown to be susceptible to pulsational overstability when the viscosity coefficient increases upon compression. In this study, the stability of an axisymmetric accretion disk with vertical structure is considered. 2D axisymmetric calculations were performed by solving the set of fully nonlinear hydrodynamic equations, including radiation transport. The time evolution of a representative section (ring) of a thin radiative accretion disk is studied. The existence of the overstability in 2D is confirmed. It is found that the presence of periodic oscillations near the outer boundary of a real disk might account for some of the low-amplitude flickering observed in dwarf novae.

Kley, W.↗
NASA NTRS1993

The structure of protostellar accretion disks and the origin of bipolar flows

Equations are obtained which govern the disk-wind structure and identify the physical parameters relevant to circumstellar disks. The system of equations is analyzed in the thin-disk approximation, and it is shown that the system can be consistently reduced to a set of ordinary differential equations in z. Representative solutions are presented, and it is shown that the apparent paradox discussed by Shu (1991) is resolved when the finite thickness of the disk is taken into account. Implications of the results for the origin of bipolar flows in young stellar objects and possible application to active galactic nuclei are discussed.

Wardle, Mark↗
NASA NTRS1993

Chemistry and evolution of gaseous circumstellar disks

An investigation of the chemical and physical processes which determine the composition and evolution of gas-rich circumstellar disks is reported. Strong mixing in a thermoclinic environment like an accretion disk leads to thermochemical disequilibration due to 'kinetic inhibition' induced by chemical time constants becoming longer than outward mixing time constants. In this case, species thermodynamically stable at high temperatures but not at low temperatures dominate at all temperatures in the disk. Nonaxisymmetric accretion of material at hypersonic speeds is a major forcing mechanism for mixing in the disk and can produce eddy speeds of 1 percent of the sound speed. The implications kinetic inhibition in the carbon, nitrogen, and anhydrous/hydrous silicate families has for the compositions of the terrestrial planets, giant planets, ice-rich satellites, Pluto, comets, meteorites, and asteroids are discussed.

Prinn, Ronald G.↗
NASA NTRS1993

The structure and stability of transonic accretion disks surrounding black holes

Stationary transonic alpha-viscosity models of accretion disks surrounding nonrotating black holes have been investigated. The viscosity is modified such that it vanishes in the supersonic region to ensure its effect does not violate the causality condition. In contrast to previous studies, the viscous stress is taken to be explicitly proportional to the angular velocity gradient and is not assumed to depend solely on the local pressure in the disk. The numerical results reveal that the structure of the innermost regions of the disk are more sensitive to the modified form of the viscosity than to the form of the viscous stress. The critical sonic point is located inside the innermost stable circular orbit of a test particle at 3 Schwarzschild radii. In these solutions, the transition from subsonic to supersonic flow results from pressure effects and not viscous effects. The linear stability of these disks has been examined in the local approximation. It is found that radiative energy transport and viscous stresses in the radial direction can have important effects. As a result, it is shown that the growth rate of the inertial-acoustic mode reaches a maximum at a critical wavelength.

Chen, Xingming↗
NASA NTRS1992

Spaceflight optical disk recorder development

Mass memory systems based on rewriteable optical disk media are expected to play an important role in meeting the data system requirements for future NASA spaceflight missions. NASA has established a program to develop a high performance (high rate, large capacity) optical disk recorder focused on use aboard unmanned Earth orbiting platforms. An expandable, adaptable system concept is proposed based on disk drive modules and a modular controller. Drive performance goals are 10 gigabyte capacity, 300 megabit/s transfer rate, 10 exp -12 corrected bit error rate, and 150 millisec access time. This performance is achieved by writing eight data tracks in parallel on both sides of a 14 in. optical disk using two independent heads. System goals are 160 gigabyte capacity, 1.2 gigabits/s data rate with concurrent I/O, 250 millisec access time, and two to five year operating life on orbit. The system can be configured to meet various applications. This versatility is provided by the controller. The controller provides command processing, multiple drive synchronization, data buffering, basic file management, error processing, and status reporting. Technology developments, design concepts, current status including a computer model of the system and a Controller breadboard, and future plans for the Drive and Controller are presented.

Jurczyk, Stephen G.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Numerical evaluation of single central jet for turbine disk cooling

The cooling arrangement of the Space Shuttle Main Engine High Pressure Oxidizer Turbopump (HPOTP) incorporates two jet rings, each of which produces 19 high-velocity coolant jets. At some operating conditions, the frequency of excitation associated with the 19 jets coincides with the natural frequency of the turbine blades, contributing to fatigue cracking of blade shanks. In this paper, an alternate turbine disk cooling arrangement, applicable to disk faces of zero hub radius, is evaluated, which consists of a single coolant jet impinging at the center of the turbine disk. Results of the CFD analysis show that replacing the jet ring with a single central coolant jet in the HPOTP leads to an acceptable thermal environment at the disk rim. Based on the predictions of flow and temperature fields for operating conditions, the single central jet cooling system was recommended for implementation into the development program of the Technology Test Bed Engine at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

Subbaraman, M. R.↗