Year: 1997
Type: article
Abstract: We study the effects of thermal conduction in a hot, active corona above an accretion disk. We assume that all of the dissipative heating takes place in the corona. We find that the importance of conduction decreases with increases in the local dissipative compactness of the corona, ℓ diss, loc , and increases with increasing abundance of electron-positron pairs. For ℓ diss, loc < 1, a significant fraction of the energy released in the corona may be carried away by the conductive flux, leading to formation of a relatively hot transition layer below the base of the corona. Comptonization of disk radiation in such a layer may account for the presence of soft X-ray excesses in the spectra emitted by disk-corona systems.
Source: The Astrophysical Journal
DOI: 10.1086/304225
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2066649277