modeling the accretion disk tagged posts

Image and inset of region surrounding Sagittarius A*. Credit: NASA/UMass/D.Wang et al. Inset: NASA/STSc

Scientists at Princeton University and PPPL have developed a rigorous new method for modeling the accretion disk that feeds the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. It provides a much-needed foundation for simulation of the extraordinary processes involved. Accretion disks are clouds of plasma that orbit and gradually swirl into massive bodies such as black holes – intense gravitational fields produced by stars that collapse to a tiny fraction of their original size. These collapsed stars are bounded by an “event horizon,” from which not even light can escape...