Disc winds matter : modelling accretion and outflows on all scales

Description

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. Read more... Abstract: 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. Read more... Front Matter ....Pages i-xxxviii Introduction (James Matthews)....Pages 1-38 Accretion Disc Winds (James Matthews)....Pages 39-75 Monte Carlo Radiative Transfer and Ionization (James Matthews)....Pages 77-120 The Impact of Accretion Disc Winds on the Optical Spectra of Cataclysmic Variables (James Matthews)....Pages 121-142 Testing Quasar Unification: Radiative Transfer in Clumpy Winds (James Matthews)....Pages 143-167 Quasar Emission Lines as Probes of Orientation and Unification (James Matthews)....Pages 169-196 Conclusions and Future Work (James Matthews)....Pages 197-205 Back Matter ....Pages 207-210