Eddington luminosity

The luminosity at which outward radiation force on matter balances inward gravity in a spherical object. Above this limit, radiation can drive matter outward, though geometry and opacity affect the outcome.

Radiation pressure: Momentum carried by electromagnetic radiation that exerts force when radiation is absorbed or scattered. Its outward force is the term that balances gravity at the Eddington limit.
Super-Eddington accretion: Accretion with a mass inflow rate or luminosity exceeding the conventional Eddington limit. It tests how accretion can persist beyond the simple spherical, steady limit.
Arthur Eddington: British astrophysicist who developed influential accounts of stellar structure and tested general relativity observationally. His analysis of stellar radiation and gravity gave the limit its name.
Anisotropic radiation: Radiation whose intensity varies with direction rather than being emitted equally in all directions. Beaming can make observed luminosity exceed the spherical limit without equal local radiation force.
Thomson scattering: Elastic scattering of low-energy photons by free charged particles, especially electrons. For ionized gas, this opacity commonly determines how strongly radiation couples to matter.
Ultraluminous X-ray source: An off-nuclear compact X-ray source in another galaxy with luminosity above that of typical stellar-mass X-ray binaries. Some sources appear to exceed the Eddington luminosity of a stellar-mass compact object.
Stellar structure: The internal arrangement and physical balance of pressure, temperature, and gravity in a star. The luminosity limit emerged from questions about how stars remain supported.
Photon trapping: The retention and inward transport of radiation when photons diffuse outward more slowly than accreting gas moves inward. Trapped radiation can alter how efficiently accretion produces escaping luminosity.
Eddington factor: The ratio of an object's luminosity to its Eddington luminosity. It expresses how close radiation force is to balancing gravity.
Quasar: An extremely luminous active galactic nucleus powered by accretion onto a supermassive black hole. Its luminosity can be compared with the Eddington limit to estimate black-hole mass and accretion state.

Linked from 20 pages