Neutron viscosity in accretion disks

The authors examine the possibility of neutron viscosity as the mechanism responsible for the dissipation of kinetic energy into luminosity in the innermost parts (r < 100 R sub s) of accretion disks surrounding compact objects. They present simplified models of such self-consistent, steady state accretion flows in which the viscosity is provided by neutron collisions with the accreting ions. Their results indicate that neutrons can indeed provide the necessary dissipation to sustain the steady state accretion of matter, and thus present a promising way of modeling the bright galactic X-ray sources such as Cyg X-1