Spectrum of two component flows around a super-massive black hole: an application to M87

TL;DR

This paper models the spectra of two-component accretion flows around black holes of different sizes, successfully fitting M87's data with a sub-Keplerian component alone, highlighting electron acceleration's role in producing observed spectra.

Contribution

It introduces a model that fits observational data of black hole accretion flows across various masses, emphasizing the sufficiency of a sub-Keplerian component without requiring a Keplerian component.

Findings

The spectrum of M87 can be fitted by a sub-Keplerian component alone.

Electron acceleration at shocks produces a non-thermal distribution explaining the flat spectrum.

The model applies across black holes of different masses, from quasars to nano-quasars.

Abstract

We calculate the spectra of two-component accretion flows around black holes of various masses, from quasars to nano-quasars. Specifically, we fit the observational data of M87 very satisfactorily using our model and find that the spectrum may be well fitted by a sub-Keplerian component alone, and there is little need of any Keplerian component. The non-thermal distribution of electrons produced by their acceleration across the standing shock in the sub-Keplerian component is enough to produce the observed flat spectrum through the synchrotron radiation.