Vertical mass coordinate of a disk
ID: vertical-mass-coordinate-of-a-disk
In a reflection-symmetric astrophysical disk, the vertical mass coordinate measures mass per unit area above the midplane. It satisfies , so inside the material. If the total surface density is , the upper face is ; the normalized coordinate ranges from zero to one. Integrals weighted by mass density become ordinary integrals in , which is especially useful for radiative diffusion and the density-weighted mean kinematic viscosity.
New to topics? Read the docs here!