The star capture model for fueling quasar accretion disks

Understand

Although the powering mechanism for quasars is now widely recognized to be the accretion of matter in a geometrically thin disk, the transport of matter to the inner region of the disk where luminosity is emitted remains an unsolved question.

• Miralda-Escud\'e & Kollmeier (2005) proposed a model whereby quasars are fuelled when stars are captured by the accretion disk as they plunge through the gas.
• Such plunging stars can then be destroyed and deliver their mass to the accretion disk.
• Here we present the first detailed calculations for the capture of stars originating far from the accretion disk near the zone of influence of the central black hole.