The formation of non-Keplerian rings of matter about compact stars (Q1863135)

When a compact celestial body with a sufficiently large angular momentum is accreting matter, in general, if the matter is subjected to no forces other than gravity, an equilibrium state will be reached. In this equilibrium state the matter moves in geodesic orbits around the celestial body. Matter confined to a plane and moving in geodesic circular motion is said to form a Keplerian disk. Suppose now, one wants to consider a situation where other forces other than gravity are acting upon the accreted matter. These forces may be due to the radiation emitted by the celestial body or internal forces of the accreted matter. That is, exactly, the problem investigated in the present work. The compact celestial bodies studied in the present work are stars. For them, the non-gravitational forces acting upon the accreted matter are important. Therefore, the author investigates the dynamics of point particles around stars in the presence of an acceleration field using general relativity. Since realistic stars rotate, the author considers rotating stars. In order to use general relativity, one has to prescribe the space-time exterior to the rotating stars. Based on a number of papers the author chooses the Kerr space-time. He starts by computing the acceleration for keeping point particles in time-like spatially circular orbits around the origin in the Kerr space-time. In fact, he computes the scalar acceleration \(a_{cc}\), defined as: \((\dot{u}^\rho \dot{u}_\rho)^{1/2}\), where \(\dot{u}_\rho\) is the four acceleration. \(a_{cc}\) depends on the angular frequency \(w\), the distance to the origin through the quantity \(x \equiv M/r\), where \(M\) is the black hole mass and the rotation parameter \(\alpha \equiv a/M\), where \(a\) is the black hole specific angular momentum. After a numerical investigation of \(a_{cc}\), he concludes that for fixed \(\alpha\) one may divide the equatorial plane, with respect to the distance to the origin, into three regions: Region 1, \(0 \leq x < x_I\), \(a_{cc}\) has a maximum; Region 2, \(x_I \leq x < x_{II}\), \(a_{cc}\) has no extremal value; Region 3, \(x > x_{II}\), \(a_{cc}\) has a minimum. The presence of the extremal acceleration values is a general relativistic effect which has no Newtonian or Schwarzschild analogue. This is the first indication of the presence of a ring because the accelerated circular orbits would spread between an orbit in Region 1, where \(a_{cc}\) has a maximum and an orbit in Region 2, where \(a_{cc}\) has a minimum. He also inverts the expression of \(a_{cc}\) to find \(w\) as a function of \(x\), \(\alpha\) and \(a_{cc}\). Next, he proves that, under certain conditions, stable rings of matter form in the Kerr space-time. He does that by studying the total energy of the point particles moving in time-like spatially circular orbits around the origin in the Kerr space-time. If one considers that the acceleration field \(a_{cc}\) is due to a scalar potential energy \(V(x)\), the total Energy \(E\) of a particle of mass \(m\) is a sum of \(V(x)\) with the specific energy \(m u_t\), where \(u_t\) is the time component of the four-velocity. He computes the specific and potential energies. The specific energy is derived directly from the expression for the four velocity and the Kerr metric. \(V(x)\) is obtained with the aid of the Hamilton's equations, the expression of \(w\) and an ansatz for \(a_{cc}\). Investigating the extremal values of \(E\) with respect to \(x\) the author concludes that, for an outward pointing acceleration field, there exists, in general, both an inner and an outer spatial boundary. The inner boundary is determined by the minimum in the energy. An outer boundary occurs if, at some point, the acceleration field is greater than the maximal acceleration present in Region 1. If both inner and outer boundaries exist then a ring is formed. Another important property of these rings is that they rotate in a direction opposite to that of the angular momentum in the Kerr space-time. Finally, the author discusses the astrophysical implications of the presence of such non-Keplerian rings rotating around compact stars. An important astrophysical implication of such rings has to do with the efficiency of emitted energy. He defines a normalized parameter, called energy efficiency, which measures the energy output of a ring. He does that by subtracting the energy of the outer orbit by that of the inner one and dividing the resulting value by the energy of the outer orbit. He shows that, in general, the energy efficiency of non-Keplerian rings is greater than that of Keplerian ones. Another important astrophysical implication comes from the fact that as the rotation of the star increases, the non-Keplerian rings extend outwards and become potentially easier to observe.