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Register a new userDynamics of Line-Driven Disk Winds in Active Galactic Nuclei II: Effects of Disk Radiation
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We explore consequences of a radiation driven disk wind model for mass outflows from active galactic nuclei (AGN). We performed axisymmetric time-dependent hydrodynamic calculations using the same computational technique as Proga, Stone and Kallman (2000). We test the robustness of radiation launching and acceleration of the wind for relatively unfavorable conditions. In particular, we take into account the central engine radiation as a source of ionizing photons but neglect its contribution to the radiation force. Additionally, we account for the attenuation of the X-ray radiation by computing the X-ray optical depth in the radial direction assuming that only electron scattering contributes to the opacity. Our new simulations confirm the main result from our previous work: the disk atmosphere can shield itself from external X-rays so that the local disk radiation can launch gas off the disk photosphere. We also find that the local disk force suffices to accelerate the disk wind to high velocities in the radial direction. This is true provided the wind does not change significantly the geometry of the disk radiation by continuum scattering and absorption processes; we discuss plausibility of this requirement. Synthetic profiles of a typical resonance ultraviolet line predicted by our models are consistent with observations of broad absorption line (BAL) QSOs.
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Accretion disk winds are thought to produce many of the characteristic features seen in the spectra of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and quasi-stellar objects (QSOs). These outflows also represent a natural form of feedback between the central supermassive black hole and its host galaxy. The mechanism for driving this mass loss remains unknown, although radiation pressure mediated by spectral lines is a leading candidate. Here, we calculate the ionization state of, and emergent spectra for, the hydrodynamic simulation of a line-driven disk wind previously presented by Proga & Kallman (2004). To achieve this, we carry out a comprehensive Monte Carlo simulation of the radiative transfer through, and energy exchange within, the predicted outflow. We find that the wind is much more ionized than originally estimated. This is in part because it is much more difficult to shield any wind regions effectively when the outflow itself is allowed to reprocess and redirect ionizing photons. As a result, the calculated spectrum that would be observed from this particular outflow solution would not contain the ultraviolet spectral lines that are observed in many AGN/QSOs. Furthermore, the wind is so highly ionized that line-driving would not actually be efficient. This does not necessarily mean that line-driven winds are not viable. However, our work does illustrate that in order to arrive at a self-consistent model of line-driven disk winds in AGN/QSO, it will be critical to include a more detailed treatment of radiative transfer and ionization in the next generation of hydrodynamic simulations.
Powerful winds driven by active galactic nuclei (AGN) are often invoked to play a fundamental role in the evolution of both supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and their host galaxies, quenching star formation and explaining the tight SMBH-galaxy relations. A strong support of this quasar mode feedback came from the recent X-ray observation of a mildly relativistic accretion disk wind in a ultraluminous infrared galaxy (ULIRG) and its connection with a large-scale molecular outflow, providing a direct link between the SMBH and the gas out of which stars form. Spectroscopic observations, especially in the X-ray band, show that such accretion disk winds may be common in local AGN and quasars. However, their origin and characteristics are still not fully understood. Detailed theoretical models and simulations focused on radiation, magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) or a combination of these two processes to investigate the possible acceleration mechanisms and the dynamics of these winds. Some of these models have been directly compared to X-ray spectra, providing important insights into the wind physics. However, fundamental improvements on these studies will come only from the unprecedented energy resolution and sensitivity of the upcoming X-ray observatories, namely ASTRO-H (launch date early 2016) and Athena (2028).
The warm absorbers observed in more than half of all nearby active galactic nuclei (AGN) are tracers of ionized outflows located at parsec scale distances from the central engine. If the smallest inferred ionization parameters correspond to plasma at a few $10^4$~K, then the gas undergoes a transition from being bound to unbound provided it is further heated to $sim 10^6$~K at larger radii. Dannen et al. recently discovered that under these circumstances, thermally driven wind solutions are unsteady and even show very dense clumps due to thermal instability. To explore the observational consequences of these new wind solutions, we compute line profiles based on the one-dimensional simulations of Dannen et al. We show how the line profiles from even a simple steady state wind solution depend on the ionization energy (IE) of absorbing ions, which is a reflection of the wind ionization stratification. To organize the diversity of the line shapes, we group them into four categories: weak Gaussians, saturated boxy profiles with and without an extended blue wing, and broad weak profiles. The lines with profiles in the last two categories are produced by ions with the highest IE that probe the fastest regions. Their maximum blueshifts agree with the highest flow velocities in thermally unstable models, both steady state and clum
We present results from high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations of isolated SMC- and Milky Way-sized galaxies that include a model for feedback from galactic cosmic rays (CRs). We find that CRs are naturally able to drive winds with mass loading factors of up to ~10 in dwarf systems. The scaling of the mass loading factor with circular velocity between the two simulated systems is consistent with propto v_c^{1-2} required to reproduce the faint end of the galaxy luminosity function. In addition, simulations with CR feedback reproduce both the normalization and the slope of the observed trend of wind velocity with galaxy circular velocity. We find that winds in simulations with CR feedback exhibit qualitatively different properties compared to SN driven winds, where most of the acceleration happens violently in situ near star forming sites. In contrast, the CR-driven winds are accelerated gently by the large-scale pressure gradient established by CRs diffusing from the star-forming galaxy disk out into the halo. The CR-driven winds also exhibit much cooler temperatures and, in the SMC-sized system, warm (T~10^4 K) gas dominates the outflow. The prevalence of warm gas in such outflows may provide a clue as to the origin of ubiquitous warm gas in the gaseous halos of galaxies detected via absorption lines in quasar spectra.
We study line driven winds for models with different radial intensity profiles: standard Shakura-Sunyaev radiating thin discs, uniform intensity discs and truncated discs where driving radiation is cutoff at some radius. We find that global outflow properties depend primarily on the total system luminosity but truncated discs can launch outflows with $sim 2$ times higher mass flux and $sim 50%$ faster outflow velocity than non-truncated discs with the same total radiation flux. Streamlines interior to the truncation radius are largely unaffected and carry the same momentum flux as non-truncated models whereas those far outside the truncation radius effectively carry no outflow because the local radiation force is too weak to lift matter vertically away from the disc. Near the truncation radius the flow becomes more radial, due to the loss of pressure/radiation support from gas/radiation at larger radii. These models suggest that line driven outflows are sensitive to the geometry of the radiation field driving them, motivating the need for self-consistent disc/wind models.
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