The bondi-hoyle accretion tail of point sources travelling hypersonically through a dense environment

We present a model for the “Bondi-Hoyle tail” left behind by the hypersonic passage of a compact, massive object through a dense, radiative environment. We derive simple equations for the flow velocity and the mass along the tail, and obtain numerical and approximate analytical solutions for the steady state problem. We then study a time-dependent problem in which the source first travels within a dense cloud, and then emerges into a low density environment. This flow results in the production of a trail of dense gas joining the source at the point in which it emerged from the dense cloud. This trail has a linear velocity vs. position profile.