Super-critical Accretion Flows around Black Holes: Two-dimensional, Radiation-pressure-dominated Disks with Photon-trapping

The quasi-steady structure of super-critical accretion flows around a black hole is studied based on the two-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamical (2D-RHD) simulations. The super-critical flow is composed of two parts: the disk region and the outflow regions above and below the disk. Within the disk region the circular motion as well as the patchy density structure are observed, which is caused by Kelvin-Helmholtz instability and probably by convection. The mass-accretion rate decreases inward, roughly in proportion to the radius, and the remaining part of the disk material leaves the disk to form outflow because of strong radiation pressure force. We confirm that photon trapping plays an important role within the disk. Thus, matter can fall onto the black hole at a rate exceeding the Eddington rate. The emission is highly anisotropic and moderately collimated so that the apparent luminosity can exceed the Eddington luminosity by a factor of a few in the face-on view. The mass-accretion rate onto the black hole increases with increase of the absorption opacity (metalicity) of the accreting matter. This implies that the black hole tends to grow up faster in the metal rich regions as in starburst galaxies or star-forming regions.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ (Volume 628, July 20, 2005 issue

Why Is Supercritical Disk Accretion Feasible?

Although the occurrence of steady supercritical disk accretion onto a black hole has been speculated about since the 1970s, it has not been accurately verified so far. For the first time, we previously demonstrated it through two-dimensional, long-term radiation-hydrodynamic simulations. To clarify why this accretion is possible, we quantitatively investigate the dynamics of a simulated supercritical accretion flow with a mass accretion rate of ~10^2 L_E/c^2 (with L_E and c being, respectively, the Eddington luminosity and the speed of light). We confirm two important mechanisms underlying supercritical disk accretion flow, as previously claimed, one of which is the radiation anisotropy arising from the anisotropic density distribution of very optically thick material. We qualitatively show that despite a very large radiation energy density, E_0>10^2L_E/(4 pi r^2 c) (with r being the distance from the black hole), the radiative flux F_0 cE_0/tau could be small due to a large optical depth, typically tau 10^3, in the disk. Another mechanism is photon trapping, quantified by vE_0, where v is the flow velocity. With a large |v| and E_0, this term significantly reduces the radiative flux and even makes it negative (inward) at r<70r_S, where r_S is the Schwarzschild radius. Due to the combination of these effects, the radiative force in the direction along the disk plane is largely attenuated so that the gravitational force barely exceeds the sum of the radiative force and the centrifugal force. As a result, matter can slowly fall onto the central black hole mainly along the disk plane with velocity much less than the free-fall velocity, even though the disk luminosity exceeds the Eddington luminosity. Along the disk rotation axis, in contrast, the strong radiative force drives strong gas outflows.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Bubbling Calabi-Yau geometry from matrix models

We study bubbling geometry in topological string theory. Specifically, we analyse Chern-Simons theory on both the 3-sphere and lens spaces in the presence of a Wilson loop insertion of an arbitrary representation. For each of these three manifolds we formulate a multi-matrix model whose partition function is the vev of the Wilson loop and compute the spectral curve. This spectral curve is the reduction to two dimensions of the mirror to a Calabi-Yau threefold which is the gravitational dual of the Wilson loop insertion. For lens spaces the dual geometries are new. We comment on a similar matrix model which appears in the context of Wilson loops in AdS/CFT.Comment: 30 pages; v.2 reference added, minor correction

D-branes as a Bubbling Calabi-Yau

We prove that the open topological string partition function on a D-brane configuration in a Calabi-Yau manifold X takes the form of a closed topological string partition function on a different Calabi-Yau manifold X_b. This identification shows that the physics of D-branes in an arbitrary background X of topological string theory can be described either by open+closed string theory in X or by closed string theory in X_b. The physical interpretation of the ''bubbling'' Calabi-Yau X_b is as the space obtained by letting the D-branes in X undergo a geometric transition. This implies, in particular, that the partition function of closed topological string theory on certain bubbling Calabi-Yau manifolds are invariants of knots in the three-sphere.Comment: 32 pages; v.2 reference adde

Large transconductance oscillations in a single-well vertical Aharonov-Bohm interferometer

Aharonov-Bohm (AB) interference is reported for the first time in the conductance of a vertical nanostructure based on a single GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well (QW). The two lowest subbands of the well are spatially separated by the Hartree barrier originating from electronic repulsion in the modulation-doped QW and provide AB two-path geometry. Split-gates control the in-plane electronic momentum dispersion. In our system, we have clearly demonstrated AB interference in both electrostatic and magnetic modes. In the latter case the magnetic field was applied parallel to the QW plane, and perpendicular to the 0.02 um^2 AB loop. In the electrostatic mode of operation the single-QW scheme adopted led to large transconductance oscillations with relative amplitudes exceeding 30 %. The relevance of the present design strategy for the implementation of coherent nanoelectronic devices is underlined.Comment: Accepted for publication on Physical Review B Rapid Communication

Amelioration of normothermic canine liver ischemia with prostacyclin.

A model of hepatic ischemia was developed in dogs using a pump-driven splanchnic-to-jugular vein bypass during crossclamping of the portal triad. An LD50 was established with three hours of ischemia. PGI2 given for one hour before the ischemic insult ameliorated the ischemic injury and increased survival

Heavy Higgs at Tevatron and LHC in Universal Extra Dimension Models

Universal Extra Dimension (UED) models tend to favor a distinctively heavier Higgs mass than in the Standard Model (SM) and its supersymmetric extensions when the Kaluza-Klein (KK) scale is not much higher than the electroweak one, which we call the weak scale UED, in order to cancel the KK top contributions to the T-parameter. Such a heavy Higgs, whose production through the gluon fusion process is enhanced by the KK top loops, is fairly model independent prediction of the weak scale UED models regardless of the brane-localized mass structure at the ultraviolet cutoff scale. We study its cleanest possible signature, the Higgs decay into a Z boson pair and subsequently into four electrons and/or muons, in which all the four-momenta of the final states can be measured and both the Z boson masses can be checked. We show that the weak scale UED model may account for the 2sigma excess of this event at ATLAS at the ZZ pair invariant mass around 250GeV, at which scale SM background is sufficiently small and the SM Higgs predicts too few events. We have also studied the Higgs mass 500GeV (and also 700GeV with \sqrt{s}=14TeV) and have found that we can observe significant resonance with the integrated luminosity 10fb^{-1} for six dimensional UED models.Comment: (v1) 36 pages, 9 figures, 6 tables; (v2) Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D, factor 2 error in (93) corrected, comments and references added, figures redrawn; (v3) Minor changes including typo corrections in eq.(15), final version appearing in PR

Polaronic Heat Capacity in The Anderson - Hasegawa Model

An exact treatment of the Anderson - Hasegawa two - site model, incorporating the presence of superexchange and polarons, is used to compute the heat capacity. The calculated results point to the dominance of the lattice contribution, especially in the ferromagnetic regime. This behavior is in qualitative agreement with experimental findings.Comment: 9 pages, Revtex, 4 postscript figure