Steady shocks around black holes produced by sub-keplerian flows with negative energy

We discuss a special case of formation of axisymmetric shocks in the accretion flow of ideal gas onto a Schwarzschild black hole: when the total energy of the flow is negative. The result of our analysis enlarges the parameter space for which these steady shocks are exhibited in the accretion of gas rotating around relativistic stellar objects. Since keplerian disks have negative total energy, we guess that, in this energy range, the production of the shock phenomenon might be easier than in the case of positive energy. So our outcome reinforces the view that sub-keplerian flows of matter may significantly affect the physics of the high energy radiation emission from black hole candidates. We give a simple procedure to obtain analytically the position of the shocks. The comparison of the analytical results with the data of 1D and 2D axisymmetric numerical simulations confirms that the shocks form and are stable.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, accepted by MNRAS on 10 November 200

Ab initio simulations of accretion disks instability

We show that accretion disks, both in the subcritical and supercritical accretion rate regime, may exhibit significant amplitude luminosity oscillations. The luminosity time behavior has been obtained by performing a set of time-dependent 2D SPH simulations of accretion disks with different values of alpha and accretion rate. In this study, to avoid any influence of the initial disk configuration, we produced the disks injecting matter from an outer edge far from the central object. The period of oscillations is 2 - 50 s respectively for the two cases, and the variation amplitude of the disc luminosity is 10^38 - 10^39 erg/s. An explanation of this luminosity behavior is proposed in terms of limit cycle instability: the disk oscillates between a radiation pressure dominated configuration (with a high luminosity value) and a gas pressure dominated one (with a low luminosity value). The origin of this instability is the difference between the heat produced by viscosity and the energy emitted as radiation from the disk surface (the well-known thermal instability mechanism). We support this hypothesis showing that the limit cycle behavior produces a sequence of collapsing and refilling states of the innermost disk region.Comment: 11 pages, 15 Postscript figures, uses natbib.sty, accepted for publication in MNRA

3D SPH Simulations of Shocks in Accretion Flows around black holes

We present the simulation of 3D time dependent flow of rotating ideal gas falling into a Schwarzschild black hole. It is shown that also in the 3D case steady shocks are formed in a wide range of parameters (initial angular momentum and thermal energy). We therefore highlight the stability of the phenomenon of shock formation in sub keplerian flows onto black holes, and reenforce the role of the shocks in the high luminosity emission from black hole candidates. The simulations have been performed using a parallelized code based on the Smoothed Particles Hydrodynamics method (SPH). We also discuss some properties of the shock problem that allow its use as a quantitative test of the accuracy of the used numerical method. This shows that the accuracy of SPH is acceptable although not excellent.Comment: 9 pages, 22 figure

SPH simulations of Shakura-Sunyaev instability at intermediate accretion rates

We show that a standard Shakura-Sunyaev accretion disc around a black hole with an accretion rate lower than the critical Eddington limit does show the instability in the radiation pressure dominated zone. We obtain this result performing time-dependent simulations of accretion disks for a set of values of the viscosity parameter and accretion rate. In particular we always find the occurrence of the collapse of the disc: the instability develops always towards a collapsed gas pressure dominated disc and not towards the expansion. This result is valid for all initial configurations we tested. We find significant convective heat flux that increases the instability development time, but is not strong enough to inhibit the disc collapse. A physical explanation of the lack of the expansion phase is proposed considering the role of the radial heat advection. Our finding is relevant since it excludes the formation of the hot comptonizing corona -often suggested to be present- around the central object by the mechanism of the Shakura-Sunyaev instability. We also show that, in the parameters range we simulated, accretion disks are crossed by significant amplitude acoustic waves.Comment: 8 pages, 12 Postscript figures, uses natbib.sty, accepted for publication in MNRA

How I do it: Cochlear Osia 2 System surgery placement

Background: The Cochlear™ Osia® 2 System is an active transcutaneous bone-anchored hearing implant with a newly developed piezoelectric transducer that is fixed to a titanium implant (BI300). Methods: It uses digital piezoelectric stimulation to bypass non-functional areas of the natural hearing system and send sound directly to the cochlea. This device is designed to meet the needs of patients with unilateral and bilateral conductive or mixed hearing loss and single-sided deafness. Conclusion: We show step by step how to place the new active transcutaneous bone conduction implant, Cochlear™ Osia® 2 System, which utilizes a piezoelectric actuator anchored to the mastoid bone through an osseointegrated screw

Shock oscillation model for quasi-periodic oscillations in stellar mass and supermassive black holes

We numerically examine centrifugally supported shock waves in 2D rotating accretion flows around a stellar mass (10 M) and a supermassive (106 M) black holes over a wide range of input accretion rates of 107 M\u2d9 /M\u2d9 E 10 124. The resultant 2D shocks are unstable with time and the luminosities show quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) with modulations of a factor of 2\u20133 and with periods of a tenth of a second to several hours, depending on the black hole masses. The shock oscillation model may explain the intermediate frequency QPOs with 1\u2013 10 Hz observed in the stellar mass black hole candidates and also suggest the existence of QPOs with the period of hours in active galactic nuclei. When the accretion rate M\u2d9 is low, the luminosity increases in proportion to the accretion rate. However, when M\u2d9 greatly exceeds the Eddington critical rate M\u2d9 E, the luminosity is insensitive to the accretion rate and is kept constantly around 3c3LE. On the other hand, the mass-outflow rate M\u2d9 loss increases in proportion to M\u2d9 and it amounts to about a few per cent of the input mass-flow rat

How initial and boundary conditions affect protoplanetary migration in a turbulent sub-Keplerian accretion disc: 2D non viscous SPH simulations

Current theories on planetary formation establish that giant planet formation should be contextual to their quick migration towards the central star due to the protoplanets-disc interactions on a timescale of the order of $10^5$ years, for objects of nearly 10 terrestrial masses. Such a timescale should be smaller by an order of magnitude than that of gas accretion onto the protoplanet during the hierarchical growing-up of protoplanets by collisions with other minor objects. These arguments have recently been analysed using N-body and/or fluid-dynamics codes or a mixing of them. In this work, inviscid 2D simulations are performed, using the SPH method, to study the migration of one protoplanet, to evaluate the effectiveness of the accretion disc in the protoplanet dragging towards the central star, as a function of the mass of the planet itself, of disc tangential kinematics. To this purpose, the SPH scheme is considered suitable to study the roles of turbulence, kinematic and boundary conditions, due to its intrinsic advective turbulence, especially in 2D and in 3D codes. Simulations are performed both in disc sub-Keplerian and in Keplerian kinematic conditions as a parameter study of protoplanetary migration if moderate and consistent deviations from Keplerian Kinematics occur. Our results show migration times of a few orbital periods for Earth-like planets in sub-Keplerian conditions, while for Jupiter-like planets estimates give that about $10^4$ orbital periods are needed to half the orbital size. Timescales of planet migration are strongly dependent on the relative position of the planet with respect to the shock region near the centrifugal barrier of the disc flow.Comment: 12 pages, 18 figures, under review by MNRA

Radiative Shocks in Rotating Accretion Flows around Black Holes

It is well known that the rotating inviscid accretion flows with adequate injection parameters around black holes could form shock waves close to the black holes, after the flow passes through the outer sonic point and can be virtually stopped by the centrifugal force. We examine numerically such shock waves in 1D and 2D accretion flows, taking account of cooling and heating of the gas and radiation transport. The numerical results show that the shock location shifts outward compared with that in the adiabatic solutions and that the more rarefied ambient density leads to the more outward shock location. In the 2D-flow, we find an intermediate frequency QPO behavior of the shock location as is observed in the black hole candidate GRS 1915+105.Comment: 11pages, 5 Postscript figures, to appear in PASJ, Vol.56, No.3, 200

Folded Radial Forearm Free Flap for the Reconstruction of Total Soft Palate Defects: Operative Technique

Background: The surgical plan to reconstruct the palate must be carefully prepared given the morphological peculiarity of the soft palate forming both the roof of the mouth and the floor of the nasal cavity. This article focuses on the use of folded radial forearm free flaps to manage isolated defects of the soft palate in the absence of tonsillar pillar involvement. Methods: Three patients affected by squamous cell carcinoma of the palate underwent resection of the soft palate and immediate reconstruction with a folded radial forearm free flap. Results: All three patients showed good short-term morphological-functional outcomes as far as swallowing, breathing, and phonation were concerned. Conclusions: The folded radial forearm free flap seems to be an efficacious way to manage localized defects of the soft palate, given the positive outcomes of the three patients treated, and in accordance with other authors. In general, the radial forearm free flap was confirmed to be a versatile solution for those intraoral defects of the soft tissue requiring a limited quantity of volume as in the case of the soft palate