paper

On the Flaring of Jet-sustaining Accretion Disks

arXiv:astro-ph/0701225 · doi:10.1086/512541

Abstract

Jet systems with two unequal components interact with their parent accretion disks through the asymmetric removal of linear momentum from the star-disk system. We show that as a result of this interaction, the disk's state of least energy is not made up of orbits that lie in a plane containing the star's equator as in a disk without a jet. The disk's profile has the shape of a sombrero curved in the direction of acceleration. For this novel state of minimum energy, we derive the temperature profile of thin disks. The flaring geometry caused by the sombrero profile increases the disk temperature especially in its outer regions. The jet-induced acceleration disturbs the vertical equilibrium of the disk leading to mass loss in the form of a secondary wind emanating from the upper face of the disk. Jet time variability causes the disk to radially expand or contract depending on whether the induced acceleration increases or decreases. Jet time variability also excites vertical motion and eccentric distortions in the disk and affects the sombrero profile's curvature. These perturbations lead to the heating of the disk through its viscous stresses as it tries to settle into the varying state of minimum energy. The jet-disk interaction studied here will help estimate the duration of the jet episode in star-disk systems and may explain the origin of the recently observed one-sided molecular outflow of the HH 30 disk-jet system.

18 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

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