At time , the accelerated Proton has momentum and, by the relativistic energy-momentum relation, energy
The incident Cosmic microwave background photon adds energy . Since the final state contains only the Delta-plus baryon, conservation of relativistic energy gives its laboratory-frame Lorentz factor
Its rest-frame decay time is a proper time, so time dilation gives the laboratory decay time
At distance , isotropic luminosity produces radiative acceleration in material of opacity . In fully ionized hydrogen, one Electron supplies a Thomson scattering cross-section for approximately one Proton mass of material, so . Balancing radiation against the Newtonian gravitational field of the black hole gives the Eddington luminosity
Below this luminosity gravity can confine optically thin ionized hydrogen; above it, electron scattering alone accelerates the gas outward.
An electron--positron pair has mass and total scattering cross-section , so its opacity is . Therefore
The limit is lower because the radiative force per unit inertial mass is larger in a pair plasma.
For a cloud with arbitrary constant opacity per unit mass,
Suppose the luminosity jumps to a constant while the cloud is at rest at . With , its radial acceleration is
Multiplication by and integration from to infinity gives conservation of energy
This result assumes that and remain constant and that the cloud stays optically thin.