Freiburg 2008 – scientific programme

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EP: Fachverband Extraterrestrische Physik

EP 15: Astrophysics III

EP 15.5: Talk

Thursday, March 6, 2008, 15:00–15:15, KGI-Aula

The structure of accretion discs — •Ralf Kissmann, Markus Flaig, and Wilhelm Kley — Institut für Astronomie & Astrophysik, Universität Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 10, 72076 Tübingen

The understanding of accretion discs is important for the investigation of different astrophysical objects. On small scales they affect the formation of planetary systems, while on large scales the are at the very center of AGNs.

One of the most important properties of such discs is their accretion rate. It was, however, not until the introduction of the magneto rotational instability (MRI) in this context that the observed accretion rates could be understood.

Here we will present numerical simulations to investigate the MRI. In these we investigate the influence of different important parameters on the accretion rate. We will address the spatial structure of accretion discs and also the characteristics of accretion disc turbulence.