Impact of dynamic feedbacks between sedimentation,sea-level rise,and biomass production on near-surface marsh stratigraphy and carbon accumulation

Salt marshes accrete both organic and inorganic sediments. Here we present analytical and numerical models of salt marsh sedimentation that, in addition to capturing inorganic processes, explicitly account for above- and belowground organic processes including root growth and decay of organic carbon. The analytical model is used to examine the bias introduced by organic processes into proxy records of sedimentation, namely ¹³⁷Cs and ²¹⁰Pb. We find that accretion rates estimated using ²¹⁰Pb will be less than accretion rates estimated using the ¹³⁷Cs peak in steadily accreting marshes if (1) carbon decay is significant and (2) data for ²¹⁰Pb extend below the ¹³⁷Cs peak. The numerical model expands upon the analytical model by including belowground processes such as compaction and root growth, and by explicitly tracking the evolution of aboveground biomass and its effect on sedimentation rates. Using the numerical model we explore how marsh stratigraphy responds to sediment supply and the rate of sea-level rise. It is calibrated and tested using an extensive data set of both marsh stratigraphy and measurements of vegetation dynamics in a Spartina alterniflora marsh in South Carolina, USA. We find that carbon accumulation in marshes is nonlinearly related to both the supply of inorganic sediment and the rate of sea-level rise; carbon accumulation increases with sea-level rise until sea-level rise reaches a critical rate that drowns the marsh vegetation and halts carbon accumulation. The model predicts that changes in carbon storage resulting from changing sediment supply or sea-level rise are strongly dependent on the background sediment supply: if inorganic sediment supply is reduced in an already sediment poor marsh the storage of organic carbon will increase to a far greater extent than in a sediment-rich marsh, provided that the rate of sea-level rise does not exceed a threshold. These results imply that altering sediment supply to estuaries (e.g., by damming upstream rivers or altering littoral sediment transport) could lead to significant changes in the carbon budgets of coastal salt marshes.     

Non-axisymmetric relativistic Bondi–Hoyle accretion on to a Schwarzschild black hole

We present the results of an exhaustive numerical study of fully relativistic non-axisymmetric Bondi–Hoyle accretion on to a moving Schwarzschild black hole. We have solved the equations of general relativistic hydrodynamics with a high-resolution shock-capturing numerical scheme based on a linearized Riemann solver. The numerical code was previously used to study axisymmetric flow configurations past a Schwarzschild black hole. We have analysed and discussed the flow morphology for a sample of asymptotically high Mach number models. The results of this work reveal that initially asymptotic uniform flows always accrete on to the hole in a stationary way, which closely resembles the previous axisymmetric patterns. This is in contrast with some Newtonian numerical studies where violent flip-flop instabilities were found. As discussed in the text, the reason can be found in the initial conditions used in the relativistic regime, as they cannot exactly duplicate the previous Newtonian setups where the instability appeared. The dependence of the final solution on the inner boundary condition as well as on the grid resolution has also been studied. Finally, we have computed the accretion rates of mass and linear and angular momentum.     

X-ray emission from accretion disks in active galactic nuclei

We constructed a grid of relativistic models for standard high-relative-luminosity accretion α-disks around supermassive Kerr black holes (BHs) and computed X-ray spectra for their hot, effectively optically thin inner parts by taking into account general-relativity effects. They are known to be heated to high (～10⁶–10⁹ K) temperatures and to cool down through the Comptonization of intrinsic thermal radiation. Their spectra are power laws with an exponential cutoff at high energies; i.e., they have the same shape as those observed in active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Fitting the observed X-ray spectra of AGNs with computed spectra allowed us to estimate the fundamental parameters of BHs (their mass and Kerr parameter) and accretion disks (luminosity and inclination to the line of sight) in 28 AGNs. We show that the Kerr parameter for BHs in AGNs is close to unity and that the disk inclination correlates with the Seyfert type of AGN, in accordance with the unification model of activity. The estimated BH masses M_x are compared with the masses M_rev determined by the reverberation mapping technique. For AGNs with luminosities close to the Eddington limit, these masses agree and the model under consideration may be valid for them. For low-relative-luminosity AGNs, the differences in masses increase with decreasing relative luminosity and their X-ray emission cannot be explained by this model.     

4U 1957+11: a persistent low-mass X-ray binary and black hole candidate in the high state?

We report on several pointed Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer observations of the enigmatic low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) 4U 1957+11 at different X-ray luminosities. The luminosity of the source varied by more than a factor of 4 on time-scales of months to years. The spectrum of the source tends to become harder when its luminosity increases. Only very weak  (1–2  per cent rms amplitude,  0.001–10 Hz  ,  2–60 keV)  rapid X-ray variability was observed during the observations. A comparison of the spectral and temporal behaviour of 4U 1957+11 with other X-ray binary systems, in particular LMC X-3, indicates that 4U 1957+11 is likely to be a persistent LMXB harbouring a black hole and it is persistently in the black hole high state. If confirmed, it would be the only such system known.     

Influence of Ohmic diffusion on the excitation and dynamics of MRI

In this paper we make an effort to understand the interaction of turbulence generated by the magnetorotational instability (MRI) with turbulence from other sources, such as supernova explosions (SNe) in galactic disks. First we perform a linear stability analysis (LSA) of non‐ideal MRI to derive the limiting value of Ohmic diffusion that is needed to inhibit the growth of the instability for different types of rotation laws. With the help of a simple analytical expression derived under first‐order smoothing approximation (FOSA), an estimate of the limiting turbulence level and hence the turbulent diffusion needed to damp the MRI is derived. Secondly, we perform numerical simulations in local cubes of isothermal nonstratified gas with external forcing of varying strength to see whether the linear result holds for more complex systems. Purely hydrodynamic calculations with forcing, rotation and shear are made for reference purposes, and as expected, non‐zero Reynolds stresses are found. In the magnetohydrodynamic calculations, therefore, the total stresses generated are a sum of the forcing and MRI contributions. To separate these contributions, we perform reference runs with MRI‐stable shear profiles (angular velocity increasing outwards), which suggest that the MRI‐generated stresses indeed become strongly suppressed as function of the forcing. The Maxwell to Reynolds stress ratio is observed to decrease by an order of magnitude as the turbulence level due to external forcing exceeds the predicted limiting value, which we interpret as a sign of MRI suppression. Finally, we apply these results to estimate the limiting radius inside of which the SN activity can suppress the MRI, arriving at a value of 14 kpc (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Critical properties of spherically symmetric black hole accretion in Schwarzschild geometry

The stationary, spherically symmetric, polytropic and inviscid accretion flow in the Schwarzschild metric has been set-up as an autonomous first-order dynamical system, and it has been studied completely analytically. Of the three possible critical points in the flow, the one that is physically realistic behaves like the saddle point of the standard Bondi accretion problem. One of the two remaining critical points exhibits the strange mathematical behaviour of being either a saddle point or a centre-type point, depending on the values of the flow parameters. The third critical point is always unphysical and behaves like a centre-type point. The treatment has been extended to pseudo-Schwarzschild flows for comparison with the general relativistic analysis.