Adenine Abundance in a Collapsing Molecular Cloud

A vital ingredient of DNA molecule named adenine may be produced by successive addition of HCN during molecular cloud collapse and star formation. We compute its abundance in a collapsing cloud as a function of the reaction rate and show that in much of the circumstances the resulting amount may be sufficient to contaminate planets, comets and meteorites. We introduce a $f$-parameter which may be used to study the abundance where radiative association takes place.Comment: Six pages and one figure. Accepted for Publication in Indian Journal of Physics (April 1, 2000 issue

Studies of dissipative standing shock waves around black holes

We investigate the dynamical structure of advective accretion flow around stationary as well as rotating black holes. For a suitable choice of input parameters, such as, accretion rate ($\dot {\cal M}$) and angular momentum ($\lambda$), global accretion solution may include a shock wave. The post shock flow is located at few tens of Schwarzchild radius and it is generally very hot and dense. This successfully mimics the so called Compton cloud which is believed to be responsible for emitting hard radiations. Due to the radiative loss, a significant energy from the accreting matter is removed and the shock moves forward towards the black hole in order to maintain the pressure balance across it. We identify the effective area of the parameter space ($\dot {\cal M} - \lambda$) which allows accretion flows to have some energy dissipation at the shock $(\Delta {\cal E})$. As the dissipation is increased, the parameter space is reduced and finally disappears when the dissipation is reached its critical value. The dissipation has a profound effect on the dynamics of post-shock flow. By moving forward, an unstable shock whose oscillation causes Quasi-Periodic Oscillations (QPOs) in the emitted radiation, will produce oscillations of high frequency. Such an evolution of QPOs has been observed in several black hole candidates during their outbursts.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, accepted by MNRA

Satellite observations of thought experiments close to a black hole

Since black holes are `black', methods of their identification must necessarily be indirect. Due to very special boundary condition on the horizon, the advective flow behaves in a particular way, which includes formation of centrifugal pressure dominated boundary layer or CENBOL where much of the infall energy is released and outflows are generated. The observational aspects of black holes must depend on the steady and time-dependent properties of this boundary layer. Several observational results are written down in this review which seem to support the predictions of thought experiments based on this advective accretion/outflow model. In future, when gravitational waves are detected, some other predictions of this model could be tested as well.Comment: Published in Classical and Quantum Gravity, v. 17, No. 12, p. 2427, 200

Jets, Disks and Spectral States of Black Holes

We show that outflow rates in jets directly depend on the spectral states of black holes. In particular, in soft states, when the Comptonized electrons are cold, outflow rate is close to zero. In hard states, outflow could be steady, but the rate may be very small -- only a few percent of the inflow. In the intermediate states, on the other hand, the outflow rate is the highest -- roughly thirty percent of the inflow. In this case, piled up matter below the sonic surface of the outflow could become optically thick and radiative processes could periodically cool the outflow and produce very interesting effects including transitions between burst (high-count or On) and quiescence (low-count or Off) states such as those observed in GRS 1915+105.Comment: Latex AIP Styl