Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 68 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Take to mean inward accretion rate, and let count loss through both faces per unit projected area of the accretion disk. An annulus of width loses to the wind. In steady state, its incoming mass flux at its outer edge equals the inward flux at its inner edge plus this loss. Hence mass conservation givesIf a loss rate is instead defined per individual face, it must be doubled before substituting for here.
Use Keplerian rotation . The vertically integrated viscous dissipation, summed over both disk faces, isHere is the kinematic viscosity, and is the surface density of a disk; for height-dependent viscosity the product means . Material already in a circular orbit has specific orbital energy . Giving it zero total binding energy therefore costs an additional per unit mass. The total launch speed is the escape velocity , but one must not charge the wind for the orbital kinetic energy it already possesses. Equating wind power to givesCombining this with mass conservation yields the wind-powered mass loss from a steady accretion disk relation
Define the outward viscous torque in an accretion disk asThe net inward angular momentum flux is . Because each unit mass lost to the wind carries the local specific angular momentum , annular conservation of angular momentum readsIn the wind region, . For constant , differentiation and cancellation of givesThus the requested Cauchy-Euler differential equation is
For , a power-law trial gives , with roots . Therefore in . A zero inner viscous torque in an accretion disk implies , so . There is no point mass sink at , so the accretion rate is continuous there and equals . The complete result isIts derivative is nonnegative throughout the wind region, as required for a nonnegative loss rate . The derivative can jump to zero outside : the energy relation applies only inside the wind zone and does not impose on its inner limit. The viscous torque in an accretion disk remains continuous and extends outside via .