# Vertical Structure of Radiation-Pressure-Dominated Thin Disks: Link   between Vertical Advection and Convective Stability

**Authors:** Hong-Yu Gong, Wei-Min Gu

arXiv: 1703.08277 · 2017-05-03

## TL;DR

This paper investigates how vertical advection due to magnetic buoyancy influences the vertical structure and convective stability of radiation-pressure-dominated thin disks, reconciling classical theory with recent simulation results.

## Contribution

It demonstrates that vertical advection significantly contributes to energy transport and stabilizes the disk against convection, providing new insights into disk structure.

## Key findings

- Vertical advection enhances energy transport in thin disks.
- Vertical advection stabilizes the disk against convective instability.
- The study links energy transport mechanisms with convective stability.

## Abstract

In the classic picture of standard thin accretion disks, the viscous heating is balanced by the radiative cooling through the diffusion process, and the radiation-pressure-dominated inner disk suffers convective instability. However, recent simulations have shown that the vertical advection process owing to the magnetic buoyancy can make significant contribution to the energy transport. In addition, no convective instability has been found by comparing the simulation results with the local convective stability criterion. In this work, following the spirit of simulations, we revisit the vertical structure of radiation-pressure-dominated thin disks by including the vertical advection process. Our study indicates a link between the additional energy transport and the convectively stable property. Thus, the vertical advection not only has significant contribution to the energy transport, but also plays an important role to make the disk convectively stable. Our analyses may be helpful to understand the discrepancy between the classic theory and simulations on standard thin disks.

## Full text

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## Figures

3 figures with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/1703.08277/full.md

## References

17 references — full list in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/1703.08277/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/1703.08277