No Arabic abstract
Numerical simulation of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence makes it possible to study accretion dynamics in detail. However, special effort is required to connect inflow dynamics (dependent largely on angular momentum transport) to radiation (dependent largely on thermodynamics and photon diffusion). To this end we extend the flux-conservative, general relativistic MHD code HARM from axisymmetry to full 3D. The use of an energy conserving algorithm allows the energy dissipated in the course of relativistic accretion to be captured as heat. The inclusion of a simple optically thin cooling function permits explicit control of the simulated disks geometric thickness as well as a direct calculation of both the amplitude and location of the radiative cooling associated with the accretion stresses. Fully relativistic ray-tracing is used to compute the luminosity received by distant observers. For a disk with aspect ratio H/r ~ 0.1 accreting onto a black hole with spin parameter a/M = 0.9, we find that there is significant dissipation beyond that predicted by the classical Novikov-Thorne model. However, much of it occurs deep in the potential, where photon capture and gravitational redshifting can strongly limit the net photon energy escaping to infinity. In addition, with these parameters and this radiation model, significant thermal and magnetic energy remains with the gas and is accreted by the black hole. In our model, the net luminosi ty reaching infinity is 6% greater than the Novikov-Thorne prediction. If the accreted thermal energy were wholly radiated, the total luminosity of the accretion flow would be ~20% greater than the Novikov-Thorne value.
We present observations of the double-peaked broad H$alpha$ profile emitted by the active nucleus of NGC 7213 using the the Gemini South Telescope in 13 epochs between 2011 September 27 and 2013 July 23. This is the first time that the double-peaked line profile of this nucleus -- typical of gas emission from the outer parts of an accretion disk surrounding a supermassive black hole (SMBH) -- is reported to vary. From the analysis of the line profiles we find two variability timescales: (1) the shortest one, between 7 and 28 days, is consistent with the light travel time between the ionizing source and the part of the disk emitting the line; and (2) a longer one of $gtrsim 3$ months corresponding to variations in the relative intensity of the blue and red sides of the profile, which can be identified with the dynamical timescale of this outer part of the the accretion disk. We modeled the line profiles as due to emission from a region between $approx$ 300 and 3000 gravitational radii of a relativistic, Keplerian accretion disk surrounding the SMBH. Superposed on the disk emissivity, the model includes an asymmetric feature in the shape of a spiral arm with a rotation period of $approx$ 21 months, which reproduces the variations in the relative intensity of the blue and red sides of the profile. Besides these variations, the $rms$ variation profile reveals the presence of another variable component in the broad line, with smaller velocity width W$_{68}$ (the width of the profile corresponding to 68$%$ of the flux) of $sim 2100$ km s$^{-1}$.
We study the small scale magnetic reconnection above the radiative inefficient accretion flow around massive black hole via 2D magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) numerical simulation, in order to model the blob formation and ejection from the accretion flow around Sgr A*. The connection of both the newly emerging magnetic field and the pre-existing magnetic field is investigated to check whether blobs could be driven in the environment of black hole accretion disc. After the magnetic connection, both the velocity and temperature of the plasma can be comparable to the inferred physical properties at the base of the observed blob ejection. For illustration, three small boxes which are located within 40 Schwarzschild radii from the central black hole are chosen as our simulation areas. At the beginning of the reconnections, the fluid is pulled toward the central black hole due to the gravitational attraction and the current sheet produced by the reconnection is also pulled toward the same direction, consequently, the resulting outflows move both upwards and towards the symmetry axis of the central black hole. Eventually, huge blobs appear, which supports the catastrophe model of episodic jets citep{2009MNRAS.395.2183Y}. It is also found that the closer to the black hole the magnetic connection happens, the higher the converting efficiency of the magnetic energy into the heat and kinetic energy. For these inner blobs, they have vortex structure due to the K-H instability, which happens along the current sheet separating the fluids with different speed.
Models of jet production in black hole systems suggest that the properties of the accretion disk - such as its mass accretion rate, inner radius, and emergent magnetic field - should drive and modulate the production of relativistic jets. Stellar-mass black holes in the low/hard state are an excellent laboratory in which to study disk-jet connections, but few coordinated observations are made using spectrometers that can incisively probe the inner disk. We report on a series of 20 Suzaku observations of Cygnus X-1 made in the jet-producing low/hard state. Contemporaneous radio monitoring was done using the Arcminute MicroKelvin Array radio telescope. Two important and simple results are obtained: (1) the jet (as traced by radio flux) does not appear to be modulated by changes in the inner radius of the accretion disk; and (2) the jet is sensitive to disk properties, including its flux, temperature, and ionization. Some more complex results may reveal aspects of a coupled disk-corona-jet system. A positive correlation between the reflected X-ray flux and radio flux may represent specific support for a plasma ejection model of the corona, wherein the base of a jet produces hard X-ray emission. Within the framework of the plasma ejection model, the spectra suggest a jet base with v/c ~ 0.3, or the escape velocity for a vertical height of z ~ 20 GM/c^2 above the black hole. The detailed results of X-ray disk continuum and reflection modeling also suggest a height of z ~ 20 GM/c^2 for hard X-ray production above a black hole, with a spin in the range 0.6 < a < 0.99. This height agrees with X-ray time lags recently found in Cygnus X-1. The overall picture that emerges from this study is broadly consistent with some jet-focused models for black hole spectral energy distributions in which a relativistic plasma is accelerated at z = 10-100 GM/c^2.
In this paper, we present the classical Bondi accretion theory for the case of non-isothermal accretion processes onto a supermassive black hole (SMBH), including the effects of X-ray heating and the radiation force due to electron scattering and spectral lines. The radiation field is calculated by considering an optically thick, geometrically thin, standard accretion disk as the emitter of UV photons and a spherical central object as a source of X-ray emission. In the present analysis, the UV emission from the accretion disk is assumed to have an angular dependence, while the X-ray/central object radiation is assumed to be isotropic. This allows us to build streamlines in any angular direction we need to. The influence of both types of radiation is evaluated for different flux fractions of the X-ray and UV emissions with and without the effects of spectral line driving. We find that the radiation emitted near the SMBH interacts with the infalling matter and modifies the accretion dynamics. In the presence of line driving, a transition resembles from pure type 1 & 2 to type 5 solutions (see Fig2.1 of Frank etal. 2002), which takes place regardless of whether or not the UV emission dominates over the X-ray emission. We compute the radiative factors at which this transition occurs, and discard type 5 solution from all our models. Estimated values of the accretion radius and accretion rate in terms of the classical Bondi values are also given. The results are useful for the construction of proper initial conditions for time-dependent hydrodynamical simulations of accretion flows onto SMBH at the centre of galaxies.
We present absolutely calibrated FUV spectra of the quasar 3C~273 covering 900- 1800 A. Our ~3 A resolution spectra were obtained with the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope during the Astro-1 mission in December 1990 and during the Astro-2 mission in March 1995. Both spectra exhibit a change in slope near the Lyman limit in the quasar rest frame. At longer UV wavelengths, the continuum has a power-law index of 0.5-0.7, while shortward of the Lyman limit it is 1.2-1.7. The energy distribution in nuf_nu therefore peaks close to the quasar Lyman limit. The short wavelength UV power law extrapolates well to match the soft X-ray excess seen in simultaneous observations with BBXRT and nearly simultaneous ROSAT observations. The general shape of the broad-band spectrum of 3C 273 is consistent with that of an optically thick accretion disk whose emergent spectrum has been Comptonized by a hot medium. Our UV spectrum is well described by a Schwarzschild black hole of 7e8 Msun accreting matter at a rate of 13 Msun/yr through a disk inclined at 60 degrees. Superposed on the intrinsic disk spectrum is an empirically determined Lyman edge of optical depth 0.5. The Comptonizing medium has a Compton parameter y~1, an optical depth to electron scattering of unity, and a temperature of 4e8 K. This overall shape is the same as that found by Zheng et al. and Laor et al. in their UV and X-ray composite spectra for quasars, giving physical validity to the composite spectrum approach. When combined with those results, we find that the generic ionizing continuum shape for quasars is a power law of energy index 1.7-2.2, extending from the Lyman limit to ~1 keV. The observational gap in the extreme ultraviolet for these combined data describing the quasar continuum shape is now only half a decade in frequency.