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The singular isothermal sphere has one-dimensional velocity dispersion $\sigma$, density ${\rho }_{\mathrm{tot}}(r)={\sigma }^2/(2\pi G{r}^2)$, and enclosed mass $M(<R)=2{\sigma }^{2}R/G$. The gas mass inside $R$ is thereforeTaking the dynamical crossing time to be $t_{\mathrm{dyn}}\simeq R/\sigma$, the dynamical upper bound on black-hole fuelling isThe cancellation of $R$ is special to the singular isothermal sphere. At $\sigma =200\mathrm{km}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$, this is approximately

Use the stated M-sigma relation to set $M_{\mathrm{BH}}\simeq 3\times 10^8{M}_{\odot }$. Defining the Eddington accretion rate with a reference radiative efficiency of black-hole accretion ${\eta }_0$,Combining this with $M_{\mathrm{BH}}\propto {\sigma }^4$ givesThus a gas fraction of order $0.1$--$0.16$ and the usual ${\eta }_0=0.1$ give roughly $60$--$90$ times the Eddington accretion rate, below $100$ at the requested dispersion. Using a crossing time $R/(\sqrt{2}\sigma )$ instead changes the coefficient by $\sqrt{2}$, so this is an order-of-magnitude estimate rather than a sharp universal bound. The problem does not specify $f_{\mathrm{gas}}$ or the rate convention: without these choices, the numerical claim cannot be proved for every gas fraction. Defining the rate as $L_{\mathrm{Edd}}/c^2$ would make this ratio ten times larger.

This is extremely optimistic because it gives every gas element a direct path to the hole on a crossing time. In a real galaxy, gas must shed angular momentum, avoid conversion into stars through star formation, cool sufficiently to flow inward, and survive active-galactic-nucleus feedback. A rotating accretion disk generally transports material on a viscous timescale, much longer than the orbital crossing time. Most available gas need not reach the central hole. If the hole is supplied at approximately the Eddington accretion rate, only about one percent of this optimistic dynamical supply reaches it; the actual percentage depends on its luminosity and duty cycle, so the bound alone is not a measurement of the fuelling efficiency.

For the temperature jump, use Bondi accretion as the local hot-gas estimate:Assuming the initial gas had $c_s\sim \sigma$, its density has not yet changed, and its polytropic coefficient remains comparable, heating to $c_{s,\mathrm{feed}}\sim 10\sigma$ givesThe capture radius $G{M}_{\mathrm{BH}}/c_s^2$ also shrinks by about $100$. Subsequent expansion can lower the density and suppress the mass accretion rate further. The result illustrates thermal suppression of black-hole accretion and negative active-galactic-nucleus feedback: vigorous activity can shut off its own gas supply. The factor $10^{-3}$ is conditional on the fixed-density comparison; the previous dynamical upper bound is not itself an actual pre-heating Bondi rate.

Let $a_{\mathrm{ns}}$ be the neutron star's distance from the centre of mass. In a circular orbit,Combining this with Kepler third law,gives the binary mass functionSince $\sin i\le 1$ and $(M_{\mathrm{ns}}+M_{\mathrm{wd}}{)}^2>M_{\mathrm{wd}}^2$,

When a low-mass red giant undergoes stable Roche-lobe overflow, the neutron star receives matter with substantial specific angular momentum, usually through an accretion disk. The accretion torque spins it up and weakens its external magnetic field, producing a recycled pulsar with a millisecond period. Removal of the donor's envelope exposes its helium core as a low-mass white dwarf.

At detachment, the donor mass and core mass both become $M_{\mathrm{wd}}$. Its luminosity is fixed by the red-giant core-mass--luminosity relation, and the supplied radius law therefore makes its final radius $R_L$ a function only of $M_{\mathrm{wd}}$. Cubing the Roche-lobe relation givesEliminating $a$ with Kepler third law yieldsThis is the white-dwarf mass--orbital-period relation: dependence on the neutron-star mass cancels.

For randomly oriented binaries, the isotropic binary inclination distribution isThe observed period gives $M_{\mathrm{wd}}$ from the preceding relation. If $M_{\mathrm{ns}}=1.35M_{\odot }$ is adopted, the measured mass function then givesso the inclination is inferred without astrometry.

Two plausible causes of an apparent shortage of edge-on systems are:

Scatter or bias in the core-mass--period relation can reinforce the second effect.

This mode is most plausible for a nearly stationary supermassive black hole immersed in the hot, pressure-supported, X-ray-emitting atmosphere of a massive elliptical galaxy. Such gas is comparatively smooth, its random and rotational speeds can be smaller than its sound speed, and radiative cooling can be slow on the inflow scale.

The ideal Bondi accretion assumptions can fail in several independent ways. The gas may carry enough specific angular momentum to circularize into an accretion disk; a galaxy's stars and dark matter can dominate the gravitational potential outside the black hole's sphere of influence; the hole can move relative to the gas; cooling, conduction, or external heating can destroy adiabaticity or isothermality; a multiphase or clumpy medium is not a uniform reservoir; magnetic fields, turbulence, and viscosity add stresses absent from the spherical model; and AGN feedback, winds, or jets can expel or recirculate the inflow. Time dependence and self-gravity provide further failures. Thus a Bondi estimate is best interpreted as an idealized supply rate, not automatically as the rate crossing the event horizon.

In a sufficiently tight binary star, the main sequence companion can fill its Roche lobe. Roche-lobe overflow then transfers gas through the inner Lagrange point towards the neutron star. The gas carries angular momentum, so it generally forms an accretion disk rather than falling radially onto the surface. Internal stresses carry angular momentum outwards and permit accretion inwards. Capture of a stellar wind is another possible supply mechanism if the companion does not fill its Roche lobe.

Near the neutron star, the rapidly increasing magnetic dipole field, with $B\propto r^{-3}$, becomes dynamically important when its magnetic pressure $B^2/(2{\mu }_0)$ is comparable to the inflow stresses. The accretion disk is truncated around a magnetospheric radius. Ionized material attaches to magnetic field lines and streams along them in magnetically channelled accretion, forming an accretion column above one or both magnetic poles. The Lorentz force impedes motion across the magnetic field, but does not forbid motion parallel to it. Gas can therefore reach the polar surface, with its gravitational potential energy released in a hot shock wave and radiation.

This description presumes the neutron star rotates slowly enough for material to reach it: sufficiently rapid rotation can centrifugally expel the inflow instead. A strong magnetic field by itself does not guarantee surface accretion.

In a close binary star, the rotating effective gravitational potential defines two Roche lobes meeting at the inner Lagrange point. Stellar expansion or orbital shrinkage can bring the donor into Roche-lobe overflow. Gas then flows through the inner Lagrange point; its angular momentum can form an accretion disk around the companion. wind mass transfer in a binary star is also possible without Roche-lobe filling. For a circular, synchronized binary, the Eggleton Roche-lobe radius approximation isThis describes the lobe geometry, not the donor's dynamical response.^[ref]

conservative binary mass transfer has fixed total mass and orbital angular momentum, neglecting stellar spin. Using $J=M_d{M}_a\sqrt{Ga/(M_d+M_a)}$ givesSince ${\dot{M}}_d<0$, transfer from the more massive donor initially shrinks the orbit; after binary mass ratio reversal it expands. Stability depends on both stars and their changing lobes. Let ${\zeta }_{\ast }=d\ln R_d/d\ln M_d$ and ${\zeta }_L=d\ln R_L/d\ln M_d$. A small mass loss reduces the relative overfill if ${\zeta }_{\ast }>{\zeta }_L$. Use the adiabatic donor response for dynamical stability, and its thermal response for slower adjustment; an equilibrium mass-radius law alone cannot decide both.

Stable transfer can proceed on nuclear or thermal timescales, while dynamically unstable overflow may create a common envelope, orbital spiral-in and either envelope ejection or a merger. Escaping gas, gravitational radiation and magnetic braking make evolution nonconservative by changing orbital angular momentum. accretion onto a compact stellar object releases power of order $G{M}_a\dot{M}/R_a$, producing bright X-ray binaries; radiation-driven outflows can limit retained mass. Eclipses, radial velocities and disk emission constrain the geometry and masses, but inclination, irradiation and assumptions about mass or angular-momentum loss affect the inference. The essential feedback is the donor's radius relative to its evolving Roche lobe.

Adopt the approximate mass-luminosity relation $L/L_{\odot }\simeq (M/M_{\odot }{)}^3$ and equal available fuel fractions. The main-sequence lifetime then scales as $M/L$, givingUsing an exponent $3.5$ instead gives about $5.4\times 10^7$ and $3.1\times 10^8$ years; these are model-dependent estimates. At $r=3r_s=6GM/c^2$ the Newtonian gravitational potential energy released from infinity is $GMm/r=m{c}^2/6$. Half remains as kinetic energy in a circular orbit, so the radiatable binding energy is $GMm/(2r)$:Using the whole potential energy loss would give $1/6$, which does not subtract the final kinetic energy. A fully relativistic calculation for a nonrotating black hole gives $1-\sqrt{8/9}\simeq 5.7\%$. When the surviving star exhausts hydrogen burning, it expands off the main sequence and can fill its Roche lobe. Binary mass transfer to the black hole can form an accretion disk and an X-ray binary; unstable binary mass transfer may instead produce a common envelope. This is conditional on the binary star remaining bound after the first remnant forms. The supplied black hole endpoint is an assumption, not a universal outcome for an isolated $8M_{\odot }$ star.

Adopt the approximate mass-luminosity relation $L/L_{\odot }\simeq (M/M_{\odot }{)}^3$ and equal available fuel fractions. The main-sequence lifetime then scales as $M/L$, givingUsing an exponent $3.5$ instead gives about $5.4\times 10^7$ and $3.1\times 10^8$ years; these are model-dependent estimates. At $r=3r_s=6GM/c^2$ the Newtonian gravitational potential energy released from infinity is $GMm/r=m{c}^2/6$. Half remains as kinetic energy in a circular orbit, so the radiatable binding energy is $GMm/(2r)$:Using the whole potential energy loss would give $1/6$, which does not subtract the final kinetic energy. A fully relativistic calculation for a nonrotating black hole gives $1-\sqrt{8/9}\simeq 5.7\%$. When the surviving star exhausts hydrogen burning, it expands off the main sequence and can fill its Roche lobe. Binary mass transfer to the black hole can form an accretion disk and an X-ray binary; unstable binary mass transfer may instead produce a common envelope. This is conditional on the binary star remaining bound after the first remnant forms. The supplied black hole endpoint is an assumption, not a universal outcome for an isolated $8M_{\odot }$ star.

An irradiated accretion disk can produce iron fluorescence with a known local energy scale. relativistic Doppler effect, gravitational redshift, beaming and light bending redistribute those photons into a broadened asymmetric line. The red wing is sensitive to the deepest emitting radii, while inclination and orbital motion influence the profile. Coronal illumination, ionization, absorption and the continuum model must be controlled before inferring an inner radius or testing a spacetime geometry.

Roche-lobe overflow is mass transfer that begins when a donor star fills its Roche lobe. Gas near the inner Lagrange point can pass through the saddle in the rotating-frame effective potential toward the companion. Its orbital angular momentum can prevent direct radial infall and instead produce an accretion disk, depending on the geometry.

The process couples stellar evolution to orbital evolution. Losing mass changes the donor's stellar radius, while transferred or escaping matter changes the Roche lobe. Dynamical stability of binary mass transfer depends on which response dominates. Stable transfer can gradually strip an envelope; unstable interaction can lead to a common envelope. Case A mass transfer and Case B mass transfer distinguish the donor's nuclear state when overflow starts.

A slim accretion disk is an optically thick, moderately geometrically thick flow at a high accretion rate. Its inflow time can be shorter than its photon-diffusion time, so radial advection carries trapped radiation inward.

A slim accretion disk is optically thick and retains an important inward advective heat flux. It is distinct from the optically thin version of a radiatively inefficient accretion flow.

Steven A. Balbus, working with John F. Hawley, established the astrophysical importance of the magnetorotational instability in weakly magnetized accretion disks. Their local linear stability analysis identified an instability associated with outward-decreasing angular velocity, even where the unmagnetized flow would pass the Rayleigh centrifugal stability criterion.^[ref]

The result offered a route from differential rotation to fluid fluctuations and outward angular momentum transport, allowing gas to accrete without attributing the transport to molecular viscosity alone.

A binary in which a black hole captures part of its companion's stellar wind. The captured gas can dissipate energy and, with sufficient specific angular momentum, form an accretion disk. This differs from gas overflowing a Roche lobe through the inner Lagrange point. The fraction captured, its angular momentum and changes in the wind affect the accretion flow and emitted X-rays.

An X-ray binary has a compact mass-gaining star or black hole accreting from a companion, so that much of its emitted power appears as X-rays. Gravitational binding energy supplies an accretion luminosity of order $GM\dot{M}/R$ when there is a surface or an appropriate inner disk radius. The donor star may feed an accretion disk through Roche-lobe overflow or a stellar wind.