No Arabic abstract
We carried out two dimensional high-resolution magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of an accretion disk around a weakly magnetized neutron star. General relativistic effects are taken into account by using pseudo-Newtonian potential of Pacz{y}nski, B., P. J. Witta (1980). When magnetic loops connect the neutron star and the accretion disk, the twist injection from the disk or from the rotating neutron star triggers expansion of the loops. Since the expanding magnetic loops prevent inflow toward the magnetic poles of the neutron star, disk matter accumulates on the boundary between the magnetosphere and the disk. Magnetic reconnection taking place in the loops creates a channel along which the disk matter can accrete and unloads the magnetosphere. This process produces quasi-periodic variation of the accretion flow in the innermost region of the disk. We found two kinds of oscillations. One is the magnetospheric oscillation regulated by magnetic reconnection. The other is the radial disk oscillation. The typical frequency of the oscillations is 100 Hz to 2 kHz. Furthermore, we predict that QPO sources inevitably accompany X-ray flares by magnetic reconnection and bipolar outflows of hot X-ray emitting plasma similar to the optical jets in protostars.
We use global magnetohydrodynamic simulations to study the influence of net vertical magnetic fields on the structure of geometrically thin ($H/r approx 0.05$) accretion disks in the Newtonian limit. We consider initial mid-plane gas to magnetic pressure ratios $beta_0 = 1000,, 300$ and $100$, spanning the transition between weakly and strongly magnetized accretion regimes. We find that magnetic pressure is important for the disks vertical structure in all three cases, with accretion occurring at $z/Rapprox 0.2$ in the two most strongly magnetized models. The disk midplane shows outflow rather than accretion. Accretion through the surface layers is driven mainly by stress due to coherent large scale magnetic field rather than by turbulent stress. Equivalent viscosity parameters measured from our simulations show similar dependencies on initial $beta_0$ to those seen in shearing box simulations, though the disk midplane is not magnetic pressure dominated even for the strongest magnetic field case. Winds are present but are not the dominant driver of disk evolution. Over the (limited) duration of our simulations, we find evidence that the net flux attains a quasi-steady state at levels that can stably maintain a strongly magnetized disk. We suggest that geometrically thin accretion disks in observed systems may commonly exist in a magnetically elevated state, characterized by non-zero but modest vertical magnetic fluxes, with potentially important implications for disk phenomenology in X-ray binaries (XRBs) and active galactic nuclei (AGN).
We calculate the emission of protoplanetary disks threaded by a poloidal magnetic field and irradiated by the central star. The radial structure of these disks was studied by Shu and collaborators and the vertical structure was studied by Lizano and collaborators. We consider disks around low mass protostars, T Tauri stars, and FU Ori stars with different mass-to-flux ratios $lambda_{rm sys}$. We calculate the spectral energy distribution and the antenna temperature profiles at 1 mm and 7 mm convolved with the ALMA and VLA beams. We find that disks with weaker magnetization (high values of $lambda_{rm sys}$) emit more than disks with stronger magnetization (low values of $lambda_{rm sys}$). This happens because the former are denser, hotter and have larger aspect ratios, receiving more irradiation from the central star. The level of magnetization also affects the optical depth at millimeter wavelengths, being larger for disks with high $lambda_{rm sys}$. In general, disks around low mass protostars and T Tauri stars are optically thin at 7 mm while disks around FU Ori are optically thick. A qualitative comparison of the emission of these magnetized disks, including heating by an external envelope, with the observed millimeter antenna temperature profiles of HL Tau indicates that large cm grains are required to increase the optical depth and reproduce the observed 7 mm emission at large radii.
We model the vertical structure of magnetized accretion disks subject to viscous and resistive heating, and irradiation by the central star. We apply our formalism to the radial structure of magnetized accretion disks threaded by a poloidal magnetic field dragged during the process of star formation developed by Shu and coworkers. We consider disks around low mass protostars, T Tauri, and FU Orionis stars. We consider two levels of disk magnetization, $lambda_{sys} = 4$ (strongly magnetized disks), and $lambda_{sys} = 12$ (weakly magnetized disks). The rotation rates of strongly magnetized disks have large deviations from Keplerian rotation. In these models, resistive heating dominates the thermal structure for the FU Ori disk. The T Tauri disk is very thin and cold because it is strongly compressed by magnetic pressure; it may be too thin compared with observations. Instead, in the weakly magnetized disks, rotation velocities are close to Keplerian, and resistive heating is always less than 7% of the viscous heating. In these models, the T Tauri disk has a larger aspect ratio, consistent with that inferred from observations. All the disks have spatially extended hot atmospheres where the irradiation flux is absorbed, although most of the mass ($sim 90-95$ %) is in the disk midplane. With the advent of ALMA one expects direct measurements of magnetic fields and their morphology at disk scales. It will then be possible to determine the mass-to-flux ratio of magnetized accretion disks around young stars, an essential parameter for their structure and evolution. Our models contribute to the understanding of the vertical structure and emission of these disks.
We present the results of a global, three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics simulation of an accretion disk with a rotating, weakly magnetized central star. The disk is threaded by a weak, large-scale poloidal magnetic field, and the central star has no strong stellar magnetosphere initially. Our simulation investigates the structure of the accretion flows from a turbulent accretion disk onto the star. The simulation reveals that fast accretion onto the star at high latitudes occurs even without a stellar magnetosphere. We find that the failed disk wind becomes the fast, high-latitude accretion as a result of angular momentum exchange mediated by magnetic fields well above the disk, where the Lorentz force that decelerates the rotational motion of gas can be comparable to the centrifugal force. Unlike the classical magnetospheric accretion scenario, fast accretion streams are not guided by magnetic fields of the stellar magnetosphere. Nevertheless, the accretion velocity reaches the free-fall velocity at the stellar surface due to the efficient angular momentum loss at a distant place from the star. This study provides a possible explanation why Herbig Ae/Be stars whose magnetic fields are generally not strong enough to form magnetospheres also show indications of fast accretion. A magnetically driven jet is not formed from the disk in our model. The differential rotation cannot generate sufficiently strong magnetic fields for the jet acceleration because the Parker instability interrupts the field amplification.
We describe three-dimensional general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of a geometrically thin accretion disk around a non-spinning black hole. The disk has a thickness $h/rsim0.05-0.1$ over the radial range $(2-20)GM/c^2$. In steady state, the specific angular momentum profile of the inflowing magnetized gas deviates by less than 2% from that of the standard thin disk model of Novikov & Thorne (1973). Also, the magnetic torque at the radius of the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) is only $sim2%$ of the inward flux of angular momentum at this radius. Both results indicate that magnetic coupling across the ISCO is relatively unimportant for geometrically thin disks.