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Register a new userEcho Tomography of Black Hole Accretion Flows
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Keith Horne
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We discuss technologies for micro-arcsec echo mapping of black hole accretion flows in Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). Echo mapping employs time delays, Doppler shifts, and photoionisation physics to map the geometry, kinematics, and physical conditions in the reprocessing region close to a compact time-variable source of ionizing radiation. Time delay maps are derived from detailed analysis of variations in lightcurves at different wavelengths. Echo mapping is a maturing technology at a stage of development similar to that of radio interferometry just before the VLA. The first important results are in, confirming the basic assumptions of the method, measuring the sizes of AGN emission line regions, delivering dozens of black hole masses, and showing the promise of the technique. Resolution limits with existing AGN monitoring datasets are typically ~5-10 light days. This should improve down to 1-2 light days in the next-generation echo mapping experiments, using facilities like Kronos and Robonet that are designed for and dedicated to sustained spectroscopic monitoring. A light day is 0.4 micro-arcsec at redshift 0.1, thus echo mapping probes regions 10^3 times smaller than VLBI, and 10^5 times smaller than HST.
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We analyze two 3D general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamic accretion simulations in the context of how they would manifest in Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) observations of supermassive black holes. The two simulations differ only in whether the initial angular momentum of the plasma is aligned with the rapid (a = 0.9) spin of the black hole. Both have low net magnetic flux. Ray tracing is employed to generate resolved images of the synchrotron emission. When using parameters appropriate for Sgr A* and assuming a viewing angle aligned with the black hole spin, we find the most prominent difference is that the central shadow in the image is noticeably eccentric in tilted models, with the ring of emission relatively unchanged. Applying this procedure to M87 with a viewing angle based on the large-scale jet, we find that adding tilt increases the angular size of the ring for fixed black hole mass and distance, while at the same time increasing the number of bright spots in the image. Our findings illustrate observable features that can distinguish tilted from aligned flows. They also show that tilted models can be viable for M87, and that not accounting for tilt can bias inferences of physical parameters. Future modeling of horizon-scale observations should account for potential angular momentum misalignment, which is likely generic at the low accretion rates appropriate for EHT targets.
Fast and slow magnetosonic shock formation is presented for stationary and axisymmetric magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) accretion flows onto a black hole. The shocked black hole accretion solution must pass through magnetosonic points at some locations outside and inside the shock location. We analyze critical conditions at the magnetosonic points and the shock conditions. Then, we show the restrictions on the flow parameters for strong shocks. We also show that a very hot shocked plasma is obtained for a very high-energy inflow with small number density. Such a MHD shock can appear very close to the event horizon, and can be expected as a source of high-energy emissions. Examples of shocked MHD accretion flows are presented in the Schwarzschild case.
The transport of photons in steady, spherical, scattering flows is investigated. The moment equations are solved analytically for accretion onto a Schwarzschild black hole, taking into full account relativistic effects. We show that the emergent radiation spectrum is a power law at high frequencies with a spectral index smaller (harder spectrum) than in the non--relativistic case. Radiative transfer in an expanding envelope is also analyzed. We find that adiabatic expansion produces a drift of injected monochromatic photons towards lower frequencies and the formation of a power--law, low--energy tail with spectral index $-3$.
We present the results of nine simulations of radiatively-inefficient magnetically arrested disks (MADs) across different values of the black hole spin parameter $a_*$: $-0.9$, $-0.7$, $-0.5$, $-0.3$, 0, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, and 0.9. Each simulation was run up to $t gtrsim 100,000,GM/c^3$ to ensure disk inflow equilibrium out to large radii. We find that the saturated magnetic flux level, and consequently also jet power, of MAD disks depends strongly on the black hole spin, confirming the results of Tchekhovskoy et al. (2012). Prograde disks saturate at a much higher relative magnetic flux and have more powerful jets than their retrograde counterparts. MADs with spinning black holes naturally launch jets with generalized parabolic profiles with width varying as a power of distance from the black hole. For distances up to $100GM/c^2$, the power-law index is $k approx 0.27-0.42$. There is a strong correlation between the disk-jet geometry and the dimensionless magnetic flux, resulting in prograde systems displaying thinner equatorial accretion flows near the black hole and wider jets, compared to retrograde systems. Prograde and retrograde MADs also exhibit different trends in disk variability: accretion rate variability increases with increasing spin for $a_*>0$ and remains almost constant for $a_*lesssim 0$, while magnetic flux variability shows the opposite trend. Jets in the MAD state remove more angular momentum from black holes than is accreted, effectively spinning down the black hole. If powerful jets from MAD systems in Nature are persistent, this loss of angular momentum will notably reduce the black hole spin over cosmic time.
We discuss the issues of stability of accretion disks that may undergo the limit-cycle oscillations due to the two main types of thermal-viscous instabilities. These are induced either by the domination of radiation pressure in the innermost regions close to the central black hole, or by the partial ionization of hydrogen in the zone of appropriate temperatures. These physical processes may lead to the intermittent activity in AGN on timescales between hundreds and millions of years. We list a number of observational facts that support the idea of the cyclic activity in high accretion rate sources. We conclude however that the observed features of quasars may provide only indirect signatures of the underlying instabilities. Also, the support from the sources with stellar mass black holes, whose variability timescales are observationally feasible, is limited to a few cases of the microquasars. Therefore we consider a number of plausible mechanisms of stabilization of the limit cycle oscillations in high accretion rate accretion disks. The newly found is the stabilizing effect of the stochastic viscosity fluctuations.
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