4–9 Dec 2015
International Conference Centre Geneva
Europe/Zurich timezone
THE REGISTRATION IS OPEN

Jets and winds from super-critical accreting black holes

7 Dec 2015, 16:56
21m
Level 0, Room 23 (International Conference Centre Geneva)

Level 0, Room 23

International Conference Centre Geneva

17 Rue de Varembé, 1211 Geneva

Speaker

Dr Roberto Soria (ICRAR-Curtin University)

Description

Determining the power output and efficiency of accreting black holes is a fundamental astrophysical problem: we want to know the relation between mass accretion rate, radiative output (photons) and mechanical output (kinetic energy of jets and winds). We focus in particular on off-nuclear black holes that are accreting from a donor star at a rate near or above the critical Eddington limit. Many of them appear as "ultraluminous X-ray sources", evidence of their high radiative output. But how much additional power is carried by winds and jets? To answer this question, we studied a sample of powerful black holes associated with large bubbles of shock-ionized and/or photo-ionized gas. We used the bubbles as calorimeters to measure the power injected by the black hole into its surroundings. We find that black holes at super-Eddington accretion rates can have a mechanical power comparable to their radiative luminosity. Our study provides empirical constraints for theoretical models of super-Eddington accretion, and for models of black hole feedback in the early universe.

Primary author

Dr Roberto Soria (ICRAR-Curtin University)

Co-authors

Dr Christian Motch (University of Strasbourg) Dr Fabien Grise' (University of Strasbourg) Dr James Miller-Jones (ICRAR-Curtin University) Prof. Manfred Pakull (University of Strasbourg)

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