Evaporation of ion - irradiated disks

We calculate the evaporation of a cool accretion disk around a black hole due to the ion-bombardment by an ion supported accretion flow (here ISAF, or optically thin ADAF). As first suggested by Spruit & Deufel (2002), this evaporation takes place in two stages: ion bombardment of the cool disk (Shakura-Sunyaev disk: SSD) produces an intermediate-temperature layer on top of the disk ('warm layer') which constitutes an independent accretion flow on both sides of the SSD. As this warm material accretes inward of the inner radius of the SSD, it becomes thermally unstable by lack of cooling of photons, and evaporates into the ISAF, thereby feeding the latter. Angular momentum conservation forces a certain fraction of the ISAF material to move outward, where it can bombard the SSD with its hot ions. The flow geometry is derived by computing stationary solutions of the continuity-and angular momentum equations for the three components (ISAF, warm flow and SSD). The overall radiative output is dominated by hard X-rays. They are produced mostly from the warm component, rather than the ISAF. The expected time dependence and stability of the flow, not computed here, is discussed briefly.