AS102 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Event Horizon, Active Galactic Nucleus, Accretion Disk
Document Summary
Much of which gets generated before the infalling matter crosses the event horizon. (recall that if it gets generated inside the event horizon it cannot escape the black hole). The matter in the accretion disk comes in a variety of temperatures (average kinetic energies) thereby producing a variety of light frequencies, apparently all the way from infrared light to gamma ray light (the most energetic). Certainly some of the light from quasars comes from the interaction of this initial light energy with the surrounding hot gas in the accretion disk, adding to the total light output of the galaxy. At the same time, a high-speed beam of gas may be ejected perpendicular to the accretion disk, forming jets and lobs seen in many active galactic nuclei. Magnetic fields generated in the disk accompany the charged particles that form the jets and emit light as they spiral around the field lines.
