 Neutrino-dominated accretion flow

A neutrino-dominated accretion flow is a hot, dense accretion disk in which weak-interaction emission removes much of the dissipated energy. At extreme accretion rates, escaping photons can become inefficient at cooling the inner gas, while reactions involving nucleons and leptons emit neutrinos. Hyperaccreting black holes have therefore been investigated as engines for gamma-ray bursts. Whether cooling wins over inward energy transport depends on the flow parameters; the name describes a regime, not every rapidly accreting disk.^[ref]