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Eddington limit
In physics, the Eddington Limit is a natural limit to the luminosity that can be radiated by accretion onto a compact object, like a black hole. It is named in honour of British physicist Sir Arthur Eddington.
If luminosity exceeds the Eddington limit, there would be so much radiation pressure that the surrounding gas is pushed outward rather than inward. Without gas to provide energy, the luminosity naturally decreases to the Eddington limit where gas be pushed inward again.
The Eddington limit calculates minimum mass of active galactic nuclei.
- <math>L_{Eddington} = 30,000 \frac{M}{M_O} L_O </math>
where
- LEddington is the maximum luminosity that can be radiated by accretion.
- M is the mass of the compact object
- MO is the Sun's mass.
- LO is the Sun's luminosity.
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