Stability of an ionization front in Bondi accretion. Issue 1 (21st October 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Keto, Eric; Kuiper, Rolf
• Is Part Of: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Volume 509:Issue 1(2022)
• Page Start: 559
• Page End: 566
• Publication Date: 2021-10-21
• Subjects: hydrodynamics -- stars: formation; Astronomy -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 520.5
• DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stab3011
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0035-8711

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Spherical Bondi accretion is used in astrophysics as an approximation to investigate many types of accretion processes. Two-phase accretion flows that transition from neutral to ionized have observational support in high-mass star formation, and have application to accretion flows around any ionizing source, but the hydrodynamic stability of two-phase Bondi accretion is not understood. With both semi-analytic and fully numerical methods, we find that these flows may be stable, conditionally stable, or unstable depending on the initial conditions. The transition from an R-type to a D-type ionization front plays a key role in conditionally stable and unstable flows.