TY - JOUR
T1 - Accretion-induced variability links young stellar objects, white dwarfs, and black holes
AU - Scaringi, Simone
AU - MacCarone, Thomas J.
AU - Körding, Elmar
AU - Knigge, Christian
AU - Vaughan, Simon
AU - Marsh, Thomas R.
AU - Aranzana, Ester
AU - Dhillon, Vikram S.
AU - Barros, Susana C.C.
PY - 2015/10
Y1 - 2015/10
N2 - The central engines of disc-accreting stellar-mass black holes appear to be scaled down versions of the supermassive black holes that power active galactic nuclei. However, if the physics of accretion is universal, it should also be possible to extend this scaling to other types of accreting systems, irrespective of accretor mass, size, or type. We examine new observations, obtained with Kepler/K2 and ULTRACAM, regarding accreting white dwarfs and young stellar objects. Every object in the sample displays the same linear correlation between the brightness of the source and its amplitude of variability (rms-flux relation) and obeys the same quantitative scaling relation as stellarmass black holes and active galactic nuclei. We also show that the most important parameter in this scaling relation is the physical size of the accreting object. This establishes the universality of accretion physics from proto-stars still in the star-forming process to the supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies.
AB - The central engines of disc-accreting stellar-mass black holes appear to be scaled down versions of the supermassive black holes that power active galactic nuclei. However, if the physics of accretion is universal, it should also be possible to extend this scaling to other types of accreting systems, irrespective of accretor mass, size, or type. We examine new observations, obtained with Kepler/K2 and ULTRACAM, regarding accreting white dwarfs and young stellar objects. Every object in the sample displays the same linear correlation between the brightness of the source and its amplitude of variability (rms-flux relation) and obeys the same quantitative scaling relation as stellarmass black holes and active galactic nuclei. We also show that the most important parameter in this scaling relation is the physical size of the accreting object. This establishes the universality of accretion physics from proto-stars still in the star-forming process to the supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85031711594&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1126/sciadv.1500686
DO - 10.1126/sciadv.1500686
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85031711594
VL - 1
JO - Science Advances
JF - Science Advances
SN - 2375-2548
IS - 9
M1 - 1500686
ER -