Lecture notes on accretion disk physics

TL;DR

This paper reviews the fundamental physical principles of astrophysical accretion disks, focusing on angular momentum transport, radiative cooling, and disk stability to understand their structure and evolution.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of accretion disk physics, including viscous theory, instabilities, and wave dynamics, integrating classical and modern concepts.

Findings

Clarifies the role of viscosity and cooling in disk structure

Summarizes classical instabilities affecting disks

Describes wave phenomena in accretion disks

Abstract

These notes introduce and review some of the physical principles underlying the theory of astrophysical accretion, emphasizing the central roles of angular momentum transport, angular momentum loss, and radiative cooling in determining the structure and evolution of accretion flows. Additional topics covered include the effective viscous theory of thin disks, classical instabilities of disk structure, the evolution of warped or eccentric disks, and the basic properties of waves within disks.