Foundations of Black Hole Accretion Disk Theory

This review covers the main aspects of black hole accretion disk theory. We begin with the view that one of the main goals of the theory is to better understand the nature of black holes themselves. In this light we discuss how accretion disks might reveal some of the unique signatures of strong gravity: the event horizon, the innermost stable circular orbit, and the ergosphere. We then review, from a first-principles perspective, the physical processes at play in accretion disks. This leads us to the four primary accretion disk models that we review: Polish doughnuts (thick disks), Shakura-Sunyaev (thin) disks, slim disks, and advection-dominated accretion flows (ADAFs). After presenting the models we discuss issues of stability, oscillations, and jets. Following our review of the analytic work, we take a parallel approach in reviewing numerical studies of black hole accretion disks. We finish with a few select applications that highlight particular astrophysical applications: measurements of black hole mass and spin, black hole vs. neutron star accretion disks, black hole accretion disk spectral states, and quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs).Comment: 91 pages, 23 figures, final published version available at http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2013-

Mixing behavioral and technological data in mathematical programming framework

Optimisation models for energy environmental planning based on the concept of economic equilibria share a common flaw that stems from their neoclassic roots: hypothesis of a perfect information and hypothesis of perfect economic rationality. A way to circumvent this issue consists in soft-linking data from sociological surveys that determine technical coefficients for MARKAL model, creating a hybrid approach of coupling a deductive engineering model with typical inductive methods of social sciences. Behavioural changes are described as virtual technologies with usual technology attributes. The method is illustrated on a case of lighting bulbs. The goal of the approach is to build long term policies that are not solely based on technology progress but also taking into account social change

Mixing Behavioral and Technological Data in Mathematical Programming Framework

Optimisation models for energy environmental planning based on the concept of economic equilibria share a common flaw that stems from their neoclassic roots: hypothesis of a perfect information and hypothesis of perfect economic rationality. A way to circumvent this issue consists in soft-linking data from sociological surveys that determine technical coefficients for MARKAL model, creating a hybrid approach of coupling a deductive engineering model with typical inductive methods of social sciences. Behavioural changes are described as virtual technologies with usual technology attributes. The method is illustrated on a case of lighting bulbs. The goal of the approach is to build long term policies that are not solely based on technology progress but also taking into account social change