Secondary Perturbation Effects in Keplerian Accretion Disks: Elliptical Instability

Abstract

Origin of turbulence in cold accretion disks, particularly in 3D, which is expected to be hydrodynamic but not magnetohydrodynamic, is a big puzzle. While the flow must exhibit some turbulence in support of the transfer of mass inward and angular momentum outward, according to the linear perturbation theory it should always be stable. We demonstrate that the 3D secondary disturbance to the primarily perturbed disk which exhibits elliptical vortices into the system solves the problem. This result is essentially applicable to the outer region of accretion disks in active galactic nuclei where the gas is significantly cold and neutral in charge and the magnetic Reynolds number is smaller than 10^4.

3 pages; contribution to appear in the Proceedings of the MG11 Meeting on General Relativity, Berlin, July 23-29, 2006; prepared on the basis of the talk presented in the meeting