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Register a new userGlobal Evolution of an Accretion Disk with Net Vertical Field: Coronal Accretion, Flux Transport, and Disk Winds
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We report new global ideal MHD simulations for thin accretion disks (with thermal scale height H/R=0.1 and 0.05) threaded by net vertical magnetic fields. Our computations span three orders of magnitude in radius, extend all the way to the pole, and are evolved for more than one viscous time over the inner decade in radius. Static mesh refinement is used to properly resolve MRI. We find that:(1) inward accretion occurs mostly in the upper magnetically dominated regions of the disk, similar to the predictions from some previous analytical work and the coronal accretion in previous GRMHD simulations. Rapid inflow in the upper layers combined with slow outflow at the midplane creates strong $Rphi$ and $zphi$ stresses in the mean field; the vertically integrated $alphasim 0.5-1$ when the initial field has $beta_{0}=10^3$ at the midplane. (2) A quasi-static global field geometry is established in which flux transport by inflows at the surface is balanced by turbulent diffusion. The field is strongly pinched inwards at the surface. A steady-state advection-diffusion model, with turbulent magnetic Prandtl number of order unity, reproduces this geometry well. (3) Weak unsteady disk winds are launched at $z/Rsim1$ with the Alfven radius $R_{A}/R_{0}sim3$. Although the wind is episodic, the time averaged properties are well described by steady wind theory. Wind is not efficient at transporting angular momentum. Even with $beta_{0}=10^3$, only 5% of the angular momentum transport is driven by torque from the wind, and the wind mass flux from the inner decade of radius is only $sim$ 0.4% of the mass accretion rate. With weaker fields or thinner disks, the wind contributes even less. (4) Most of the disk accretion is driven by the $Rphi$ stress from the MRI and global magnetic fields. Our simulations have many applications to astrophysical accretion disk systems.
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The Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope observations of blazars show a strong correlation between the spectral index of their gamma-ray spectra and their synchrotron peak frequency $ u_{rm{pk}}^{rm{syn}}$; additionally, the rate of Compton Dominance of these sources also seems to be a function of $ u_{rm{pk}}^{rm{syn}}$. In this work, we adopt the assumption that the nonthermal emission of blazars is primarily due to radiation by a population of Fermi-accelerated electrons in a relativistic outflow (jet) along the symmetry axis of the blazars accretion disk. Furthermore, we assume that the Compton component is related to an external photon field of photons, which are scattered from particles of the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) wind emanating from the accretion disk. Our results reproduce well the aforementioned basic observational trends of blazar classification by varying just one parameter, namely the mass accretion rate onto the central black hole.
We calculate the chemical evolution of protoplanetary disks considering radial viscous accretion, vertical turbulent mixing and vertical disk winds. We study the effects on the disk chemical structure when different models for the formation of molecular hydrogen on dust grains are adopted. Our gas-phase chemistry is extracted from the UMIST Database for Astrochemistry (Rate06) to which we have added detailed gas-grain interactions. We use our chemical model results to generate synthetic near- and mid-infrared LTE line emission spectra and compare these with recent Spitzer observations. Our results show that if H2 formation on warm grains is taken into consideration, the H2O and OH abundances in the disk surface increase significantly. We find the radial accretion flow strongly influences the molecular abundances, with those in the cold midplane layers particularly affected. On the other hand, we show that diffusive turbulent mixing affects the disk chemistry in the warm molecular layers, influencing the line emission from the disk and subsequently improving agreement with observations. We find that NH3, CH3OH, C2H2 and sulphur-containing species are greatly enhanced by the inclusion of turbulent mixing. We demonstrate that disk winds potentially affect the disk chemistry and the resulting molecular line emission in a similar manner to that found when mixing is included.
The launching process of a magnetically driven outflow from an accretion disk is investigated in a local, shearing box model which allows a study of the feedback between accretion and angular momentum loss. The mass-flux instability found in previous linear analyses of this problem is recovered in a series of 2D (axisymmetric) simulations in the MRI-stable (high magnetic field strength) regime. At low field strengths that are still sufficient to suppress MRI, the instability develops on a short radial length scale and saturates at a modest amplitude. At high field strengths, a long-wavelength clump instability of large amplitude is observed, with growth times of a few orbits. As speculated before, the unstable connection between disk and outflow may be relevant for the time dependence observed in jet-producing disks. The success of the simulations is due in a large part to the implementation of an effective wave-transmitting upper boundary condition.
Winds blown from accretion disks formed inside massive rotating stars may result in stellar explosions observable as Type Ibc and Type II supernovae. A key feature of the winds is their ability to produce the radioactive Nickel-56 necessary to power a supernova light curve. The wind strength depends on accretion disk cooling by neutrino emission and photo-disintegration of bound nuclei. These cooling processes depend on the angular momentum of the stellar progenitor via the virial temperature at the Kepler radius where the disk forms. The production of an observable supernova counterpart to a Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) may therefore depend on the angular momentum of the stellar progenitor. Stars with low angular momentum may produce a GRB without making an observable supernova. Stars with large angular momentum may make extremely bright and energetic supernovae like SN 1998bw. Stars with an intermediate range of angular momentum may simultaneously produce a supernova and a GRB.
While planets are commonly discovered around main-sequence stars, the processes leading to their formation are still far from being understood. Current planet population synthesis models, which aim to describe the planet formation process from the protoplanetary disk phase to the time exoplanets are observed, rely on prescriptions for the underlying properties of protoplanetary disks where planets form and evolve. The recent development in measuring disk masses and disk-star interaction properties, i.e., mass accretion rates, in large samples of young stellar objects demand a more careful comparison between the models and the data. We performed an initial critical assessment of the assumptions made by planet synthesis population models by looking at the relation between mass accretion rates and disk masses in the models and in the currently available data. We find that the currently used disk models predict mass accretion rate in line with what is measured, but with a much lower spread of values than observed. This difference is mainly because the models have a smaller spread of viscous timescales than what is needed to reproduce the observations. We also find an overabundance of weakly accreting disks in the models where giant planets have formed with respect to observations of typical disks. We suggest that either fewer giant planets have formed in reality or that the prescription for planet accretion predicts accretion on the planets that is too high. Finally, the comparison of the properties of transition disks with large cavities confirms that in many of these objects the observed accretion rates are higher than those predicted by the models. On the other hand, PDS70, a transition disk with two detected giant planets in the cavity, shows mass accretion rates well in line with model predictions.
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