The effectively optically thin accretion flow and its implication in supermassive black holes

ABSTRACT Based on a unified description of various accretion flows, we find a long-ignored solution – the effectively optically thin accretion flow, occurring at accretion rates around Eddington value. As a consequence of radiation-pressure dominance, the density in a standard thin disc (SSD) decreases with the increase of accretion rates, making the innermost region effectively optically thin. Further increase in accretion rate leads to a rise of the temperature so that the Compton cooling is able to balance the accretion released energy. We demonstrate that the effectively optically thin flow is characterized by moderate temperature and large scattering optical depth, producing a multicolour Wien spectrum. For an appropriate accretion rate, the accretion flow transforms from an outer SSD to an inner effectively optically thin flow. Thus, the spectra of the whole accretion flow exhibit two components, i.e. a multicolour Wien spectrum at higher frequency and a multicolour blackbody, the former could provide an alternative origin of soft X-ray excess or formation of warm corona in active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Our stability analysis proves it is thermally stable and viscously unstable, indicating its existence in accreting systems. We show that effectively optically thin accretion flow exists in supermassive black holes for accretion rates around 0.1 to 10 times Eddington value, bridging the SSD at low accretion rates and slim disc at high rates. By comparing the predictions and average spectra of AGN, we constrain the viscosity parameter to be $\alpha \sim 0.03$, in good agreement with that derived from observed variability.