Accretion onto compact objects

: Avara, Mark J.; Marcel, Gregoire

: Mandel, Ilya

Publisher: Elsevier

: 2026

: Encyclopedia of Astrophysics

: 281

: 298

: 978-0-443-21440-0

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-443-21439-4.00112-7

: https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-443-21439-4.00112-7

Accretion onto compact objects such as black holes and neutron stars is the process by which matter falls deeply into their gravitational potential well, converting enough gravitational potential energy into light, winds, and jets to make these not only among the most luminous objects in the universe, but among the most influential. Relativistic in nature, and often liberating most electro-magnetic energy in X-rays, the birth of X-ray astronomy has taken us from their discovery to the beginnings of understanding their influence through energetic feedback at all astrophysical scales. In this chapter we will introduce this broad subject, using black holes as a cornerstone for the fundamentals of relativistic accretion. We will introduce some history of the subject, the most basic equations, describe modern computational methods used in their study, and briefly discuss open questions in the field.