Modified Slim-Disk Model Based on Radiation-Hydrodynamic Simulation Data: The Conflict Between Outflow and Photon Trapping

TL;DR

This study investigates the interplay between photon trapping and outflow in supercritical accretion flows using radiation-hydrodynamic simulations, leading to a modified slim-disk model that accounts for mass loss effects.

Contribution

The paper introduces a simplified one-dimensional model incorporating outflow effects into the slim-disk framework, clarifying their impact on accretion flow properties.

Findings

Mass loss reduces surface density and optical depth inside the trapping radius.

Photon trapping suppresses outflow at small radii.

Emergent spectra are insensitive to outflow variations.

Abstract

Photon trapping and outflow are two key physics associated with the supercritical accretion flow. We investigate the conflict between these two processes based on two-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamic (RHD) simulation data and construct a simplified (radially) one-dimensional model. Mass loss due to outflow, which is not considered in the slim-disk model, will reduce surface density of the flow, and if very significant, it will totally suppress photon trapping effects. If the photon trapping is very significant, conversely, outflow will be suppressed because radiation pressure force will be reduced. To see what actually occurs, we examine the RHD simulation data and evaluate the accretion rate and outflow rate as functions of radius. We find that the former monotonically decreases, while the latter increases, as the radius decreases. However, the former is kept constant at small radii, inside several Schwarzschild radii, since the outflow is suppressed by the photon trapping effects. To understand the conflict between the photon trapping and outflow in a simpler way, we model the radial distribution of the accretion rate from the simulation data and build up a new (radially) one-dimensional model, which is similar to the slim-disk model but incorporates the mass loss effects due to the outflow. We find that the surface density (and, hence, the optical depth) is much reduced even inside the trapping radius, compared with the case without outflow, whereas the effective temperature distribution hardly changes. That is, the emergent spectra do not sensitively depend on the amount of mass outflow. We conclude that the slim-disk approach is valid for interpreting observations, even if the outflow is taken into account.