Compared to nuclear fusion, how efficient is the energy conversion process during accretion onto compact stellar remnants?
Answer
It is far more efficient
The energy differential between a particle's initial orbital energy and the energy released when it crosses the final stable orbit near a compact object results in an energy release that is far more efficient than that produced by nuclear fusion.
Related Questions
What is the primary driver distinguishing cosmic accretion from terrestrial forms of accumulation?What physical principle causes infalling material around a protostar to flatten into a rotating structure?What term describes the observational signature of vigorous accretion onto a supermassive black hole at a galactic center?Why are accretion disks around neutron stars or black holes significantly hotter than those around protostars?In the context of plate tectonics, what is the term for the mass of material piled up onto the overriding plate during subduction?What mechanism allows matter to spiral inward toward the central object within an astrophysical accretion disk?What geological example illustrates accretion as a reciprocal process to erosion along a river channel?Compared to nuclear fusion, how efficient is the energy conversion process during accretion onto compact stellar remnants?What specific type of object is cited as an example of intense gravitational accretion occurring in a binary system?What is the fundamental, universal prerequisite for accretion to occur, regardless of scale?