For fixed-composition monatomic ideal gas plus equilibrium blackbody radiation, let and . The mass-specific heats are and . The specific-heat ratio is , not generally any one of the stellar adiabatic exponents. Differentiate at constant total pressure rather than at constant .
Specific internal energy 2026-10-06
Specific internal energy is internal energy per unit mass. For a perfect gas with constant specific-heat ratio, . Its material balance is , where is heat supplied per unit volume per unit time.
Transonic accretion in a power-law tube 2026-10-05
Consider steady isentropic flow toward a Newtonian gravitational potential through a tube of cross-sectional area . Write for the inward speed and use a polytropic equation of state with specific-heat ratio . Mass conservation and the Euler equations for an inviscid fluid givewhere is the adiabatic sound speed. A regular sonic point therefore has and . The Bernoulli equation, matched to a nearly stationary reservoir with sound speed , givesFor , a finite positive sonic point requires . Differentiating the flow equation at that point, with , givesIts discriminant is , so the same bound permits real regular slopes. The branch on which the Mach number rises inward selects the negative sign inFor a spherical tube , this recovers the threshold of Bondi accretion; for a dipolar flux-tube area, gives . The tube approximation must remain valid between the reservoir matching region and the accretor.