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Session 100 - Accretion Disks and Black Holes.
Display session, Thursday, January 16
Metropolitan Ballroom,
We present a calculation of the vertical structure and spectrum of a viscously heated accretion disk around a massive non-rotating black hole. After finding the radial dependence of vertically-integrated quantities for these disks, we solve the equations of hydrostatic equilibrium, energy balance, and frequency-dependent radiation transfer as functions of altitude. To solve the last set of equations, we use a variable Eddington factor method. We include electron scattering, free-free, and HI, HeI, and HeII bound-free opacities and the corresponding continuum cooling processes. We find that Lyman edge features, both in emission and absorption, are a generic feature of these disks and that previous calculations have underestimated the amplitude of the edge.
