Accretion-induced variability links young stellar objects, white dwarfs, and black holes
Accretion-induced variability links young stellar objects, white dwarfs, and black holes
The central engines of disc-accreting stellar-mass black holes appear to be scaled down versions of the supermassive black holes that power active galactic nuclei. However, if the physics of accretion is universal, it should also be possible to extend this scaling to other types of accreting systems, irrespective of accretor mass, size, or type. We examine new observations, obtained with Kepler/K2 and ULTRACAM, regarding accreting white dwarfs and young stellar objects. Every object in the sample displays the same linear correlation between the brightness of the source and its amplitude of variability (rms-flux relation) and obeys the same quantitative scaling relation as stellar-mass black holes and active galactic nuclei. We also show that the most important parameter in this scaling relation is the physical size of the accreting object. This establishes the universality of accretion physics from proto-stars still in the star-forming process to the supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies.
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Scaringi, Simon
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Maccarone, Thomas J.
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Kording, Elmar
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Knigge, Christian
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Vaughan, Simon
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Marsh, Thomas R.
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Aranzana, Ester
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Dhillon, Vikram S.
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Barros, Susana C.C.
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9 October 2015
Scaringi, Simon
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Maccarone, Thomas J.
27e6101c-8fa4-41db-ba75-d2ee3d1a0c53
Kording, Elmar
0e21a9e1-5152-4db0-b335-c7563e94b36c
Knigge, Christian
ac320eec-631a-426e-b2db-717c8bf7857e
Vaughan, Simon
2824e742-d06e-4fa7-800a-b99973a73d10
Marsh, Thomas R.
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Aranzana, Ester
66fa0caa-a570-419c-ad67-86b4b0bf3022
Dhillon, Vikram S.
8a4c9a0c-87a7-44a9-ac04-4fbab8662c1d
Barros, Susana C.C.
91024e14-9d28-48c0-82a5-ee48105a14bd
Scaringi, Simon, Maccarone, Thomas J., Kording, Elmar, Knigge, Christian, Vaughan, Simon, Marsh, Thomas R., Aranzana, Ester, Dhillon, Vikram S. and Barros, Susana C.C.
(2015)
Accretion-induced variability links young stellar objects, white dwarfs, and black holes.
Science Advances, 1 (9), .
(doi:10.1126/sciadv.1500686).
Abstract
The central engines of disc-accreting stellar-mass black holes appear to be scaled down versions of the supermassive black holes that power active galactic nuclei. However, if the physics of accretion is universal, it should also be possible to extend this scaling to other types of accreting systems, irrespective of accretor mass, size, or type. We examine new observations, obtained with Kepler/K2 and ULTRACAM, regarding accreting white dwarfs and young stellar objects. Every object in the sample displays the same linear correlation between the brightness of the source and its amplitude of variability (rms-flux relation) and obeys the same quantitative scaling relation as stellar-mass black holes and active galactic nuclei. We also show that the most important parameter in this scaling relation is the physical size of the accreting object. This establishes the universality of accretion physics from proto-stars still in the star-forming process to the supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies.
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Knigge_Accretion-induced variability links young stellar objects.pdf
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Accepted/In Press date: 17 July 2015
Published date: 9 October 2015
Organisations:
Astronomy Group
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 396479
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/396479
ISSN: 2375-2548
PURE UUID: ab16c668-6ce4-4cb6-b9ae-dade3a0fc800
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Date deposited: 09 Jun 2016 14:23
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 00:53
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Contributors
Author:
Simon Scaringi
Author:
Thomas J. Maccarone
Author:
Elmar Kording
Author:
Simon Vaughan
Author:
Thomas R. Marsh
Author:
Ester Aranzana
Author:
Vikram S. Dhillon
Author:
Susana C.C. Barros
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