Principal Investigator

D T Wickramasinghe Mathematics, Faculty of Science, ANU

Project Title

Structure of Accretion Discs in Close Interacting Binaries

Brief Description for General Publications

Accretion discs occur on all scales in astrophysics. They are found as swirling masses of gas surrounding giant black holes in the centres of galaxies, or on a smaller scale surroundind stellar mass neutron stars, white dwarfs or black holes in close interacting binaries or as proto-planetary discs. The physics of these structures have remained enigmatic despite concerted research efforts on several fronts. We propose to use numerical hydrodynamics to explore the global properties of accretion discs concentrating in particular on the effects of cooling on disc structure and evolution. The research will extend current 3-D based on the adiabatic or polytropic assumptions to a more realistic level by incorporating a treatmemnt of the energy equation. which allows for the trapping and the transfer of radiation.