The effective temperature distribution of steady‐state, mass‐losing accretion discs

Mass loss appears to be a common phenomenon among astrophysical accretion disc systems. An outflow emanating from an accretion disc can act as a sink for mass, angular momentum and energy, and can therefore alter the dissipation rates and effective temperatures across the disc. Here, the radial distributions of dissipation rate and effective temperature across a Keplerian, steady‐state, mass‐losing accretion disc are derived, using a simple, parametric approach that is sufficiently general to be applicable to many types of dynamical disc–wind models. Effective temperature distributions for mass‐losing accretion discs in cataclysmic variables are shown explicitly, with parameters chosen to describe both radiation‐driven and centrifugally driven outflows. For realistic wind mass‐loss rates of a few per cent, only centrifugally driven outflows – particularly those in which mass loss is concentrated in the inner disc – are likely to alter the effective temperature distribution of the disc significantly. Accretion discs that drive such outflows could produce spectra and eclipse light curves that are noticeably different from those produced by standard, conservative discs.