Past exam of the astrophysical fluid dynamics course of the University of Cambridge / 2017 / 4 / d / Solution

For an unattenuated isotropic point source, the radiation flux is $L_{\ast }/(4\pi r^2)$. The radiation pressure force per particle divided by its mass $\bar{m}$ gives the outward accelerationThus the effective inward inverse-square coefficient is $GM-\sigma L_{\ast }/(4\pi \bar{m}c)$. Insert it into the preceding wind equation. The radiative shift of an isothermal breeze maximum isEquivalently, with opacity $\kappa =\sigma /\bar{m}$ and an Eddington luminosity $L_{\mathrm{Edd}}=4\pi GMc/\kappa$, this is $r_M^{\prime }=r_M(1-L_{\ast }/L_{\mathrm{Edd}})$. It is an exterior speed maximum only if the radius is positive and lies within the modeled wind region. For $L_{\ast }\ge L_{\mathrm{Edd}}$, the wind equation's right side is positive at every $r>0$, so an always-subsonic outflow decreases in speed and has no such interior maximum.

Because $\sigma$ is a cross section per particle, its conversion to acceleration requires $\bar{m}$; that mass cannot be omitted dimensionally. The requested dependence on the four stated variables therefore assumes a fixed particle species. For the atomic hydrogen of part (e), set $\bar{m}\simeq m_H$ before molecule formation.