ON THE EVOLUTION OF ACCRETION RATES IN COMPACT OUTBURST SOURCES

Abstract

Spectra in outburst sources are found to become soft in viscous timescales before going back to hard as in the pre-outburst phase. By using two component accretion disks we show that major characteristics of the spectral evolution can be reproduced. We find that the outburst is possibly caused by a sudden rise in viscosity which gradually converts the sub-Keplerian flow into a Keplerian flow. The decline of the viscosity reduces the Keplerian accretion rate, and the system goes back to hard states. We discuss the genesis of the characteristic shape of the hardness–intensity diagram and reproduce this for the well-known outburst source GRO J1655-40.