Pulsars, transients and relativistic astrophysics

Abstract:

The leading order Green’s function solutions of the general relativistic thin disc equations are computed, using a pseudo-Newtonian potential and asymptotic Laplace mode matching techniques. This solution, valid for a vanishing innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) stress, is constructed by ensuring that it reproduces the leading order asymptotic behaviour of the near-ISCO, Newtonian, and global Wentzel–Kramers–Brillouin limits. Despite the simplifications used in constructing this solution, it is typically accurate, for all values of the Kerr spin parameter a and at all radii, to less than a per cent of the full numerically calculated solutions of the general relativistic disc equations. These solutions will be of use in studying time-dependent accretion discs surrounding Kerr black holes.

Abstract:

The probability density function of accretion disc luminosity fluctuations at high observed energies (i.e. energies larger than the peak temperature scale of the disc) is derived, under the assumption that the temperature fluctuations are lognormally distributed. Thin disc theory is used throughout. While lognormal temperature fluctuations would imply that the disc’s bolometric luminosity is also lognormal, the observed Wien-like luminosity behaves very differently. For example, in contrast to a lognormal distribution, the standard deviation of the derived distribution is not linearly proportional to its mean. This means that these systems do not follow a linear rms-flux relationship. Instead they exhibit very high intrinsic variance, and undergo what amounts to a phase transition, in which the mode of the distribution (in the statistical sense) ceases to exist, even for physically reasonable values of the underlying temperature variance. The moments of this distribution are derived using asymptotic expansion techniques. A result that is important for interpreting observations is that the theory predicts that the fractional variability of these disc systems should increase as the observed frequency is increased. The derived distribution will be of practical utility in quantitatively understanding the variability of disc systems observed at energies above their peak temperature scale, including X-ray observations of tidal disruption events.