Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Disc Winds Matter

Modelling Accretion and Outflows on All Scales

  • Book
  • © 2017

Overview

Authors:
  1. James Matthews

    1. Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Nominated as an outstanding PhD thesis by the University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
  • Includes a broad introduction to accretion and outflow in astrophysical systems
  • Features a detailed description of Monte Carlo radiative transfer methods
  • Covers both theoretical and observational approaches to understanding accreting systems
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: Springer Theses (Springer Theses)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxxviii
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • James Matthews
    Pages 1-38

  3. Accretion Disc Winds

    • James Matthews
    Pages 39-75

  4. Monte Carlo Radiative Transfer and Ionization

    • James Matthews
    Pages 77-120

  5. The Impact of Accretion Disc Winds on the Optical Spectra of Cataclysmic Variables

    • James Matthews
    Pages 121-142

  6. Testing Quasar Unification: Radiative Transfer in Clumpy Winds

    • James Matthews
    Pages 143-167

  7. Quasar Emission Lines as Probes of Orientation and Unification

    • James Matthews
    Pages 169-196

  8. Conclusions and Future Work

    • James Matthews
    Pages 197-205

  9. Back Matter

    Pages 207-210
    Download chapter PDF
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

This thesis describes the application of a Monte Carlo radiative transfer code to accretion disc winds in two types of systems spanning 9 orders of magnitude in mass and size. In both cases, the results provide important new insights. On small scales, the presence of disc winds in accreting white dwarf binary systems has long been inferred from the presence of ultraviolet absorption lines. Here, the thesis shows that the same winds can also produce optical emission lines and a recombination continuum. On large scales, the thesis constructs a simple model of disc winds in quasars that is capable of explaining both the observed absorption and emission signatures – a crucial advance that supports a disc-wind based unification scenario for quasars. Lastly, the thesis also includes a theoretical investigation into the equivalent width distribution of the emission lines in quasars, which reveals a major challenge to all unification scenarios.


Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

    James Matthews

About the author

Dr. James Matthews' scientific career started in earnest at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics under the supervision of Dr. Rosanne Di Stefano. They worked on predicting gravitational lensing events in order to search for exoplanets. With his interest in computational astrophysics piqued, he transitioned to a PhD at Southampton focusing on accretion disc winds. This project forms the basis of the thesis, which in particular aims to assess how universal the accretion and outflow phenomena are across 10 orders of magnitude in mass. Nowadays, Dr. Matthews works mostly on cosmic ray acceleration at Oxford with Professors Tony Bell and Katherine Blundell.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Disc Winds Matter

  • Book Subtitle: Modelling Accretion and Outflows on All Scales

  • Authors: James Matthews

  • Series Title: Springer Theses

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59183-4

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing AG 2017

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-59182-7Published: 09 August 2017

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-86563-8Published: 04 August 2018

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-59183-4Published: 01 August 2017

  • Series ISSN: 2190-5053

  • Series E-ISSN: 2190-5061

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XXXVIII, 210

  • Number of Illustrations: 30 b/w illustrations, 63 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Astrophysics and Astroparticles, Numerical and Computational Physics, Simulation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation