Disc Winds From Accreting Systems in the 2040s

TL;DR

This paper discusses the importance of disc winds in accreting systems across different mass scales, emphasizing the need for high-resolution, time-domain observations to understand their evolution, mechanisms, and impact on astrophysical processes.

Contribution

It highlights the potential of upcoming high-resolution, time-domain spectroscopy to advance understanding of disc wind mechanisms and their role in accretion and feedback processes.

Findings

Winds evolve on timescales of minutes.

Optical spectroscopy reveals common wind features across systems.

High-resolution, time-domain data can constrain wind launching mechanisms.

Abstract

What does the temporal evolution of disc winds tell us about accreting systems and the accretion process? Studies of accretion-disc outflows across all mass scales, including accreting white dwarfs, X-ray binaries, and active galactic nuclei, have shown that winds play a key role in regulating both the accretion flow and the surrounding environment. Disc winds therefore provide a common thread linking a broad range of scientific topics, from the microphysics of accretion to galaxy-scale feedback and evolution, as well as binary evolution and the predicted rates of energetic (multi-messenger) transient phenomena. Yet we still lack a comprehensive picture of the accretion-feedback process. Optical spectroscopy has revealed striking similarities across mass scales, hinting at common production mechanisms, and has shown that winds can evolve on timescales of only minutes. Progress, however, has been limited by their transient nature, sparse time coverage, and the lack of simultaneous, high-resolution spectroscopy. Time-domain facilities with high temporal and spectral resolution will allow us to track these events in high accretion-rate systems, constrain their launching mechanisms, and measure the mass, energy, and angular momentum they carry. This will provide crucial input for binary evolution models, wind feedback, and a unified view of accreting systems across mass scales.