Formation of overheated regions and truncated disks around black holes: three-dimensional general relativistic radiation-magnetohydrodynamics simulations

Journal Article · Wed Jul 20 04:00:00 EDT 2016 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/826/1/23· OSTI ID:22868883

Takahashi, Hiroyuki R.; Kawashima, Tomohisa ^[1]; Ohsuga, Ken ^[2]; Sekiguchi, Yuichiro ^[3]

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1. Center for Computational Astrophysics, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588 (Japan)
2. Division of Theoretical Astronomy, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588 (Japan)
3. Department of Physics, Toho University, Funabashi, Chiba 274-8510 (Japan)

Using three-dimensional general relativistic radiation-magnetohydrodynamics simulations of accretion flows around stellar mass black holes, we report that the relatively cold disk (≳10{sup 7} K) is truncated near the black hole. Hot and less dense regions, of which the gas temperature is ≳10{sup 9} K and more than 10 times higher than the radiation temperature (overheated regions), appear within the truncation radius. The overheated regions also appear above as well as below the disk, sandwiching the cold disk, leading to the effective Compton upscattering. The truncation radius is ∼30r{sub g} for M-dot ∼L{sub Edd}/c{sup 2}, where r{sub g}, M-dot ,L{sub Edd},c are the gravitational radius, mass accretion rate, Eddington luminosity, and light speed, respectively. Our results are consistent with observations of a very high state, whereby the truncated disk is thought to be embedded in the hot rarefied regions. The truncation radius shifts inward to ∼10r{sub g} with increasing mass accretion rate M-dot ∼100L{sub Edd}/c{sup 2}, which is very close to an innermost stable circular orbit. This model corresponds to the slim disk state observed in ultraluminous X-ray sources. Although the overheated regions shrink if the Compton cooling effectively reduces the gas temperature, the sandwich structure does not disappear at the range of M-dot ≲100L{sub Edd}/c{sup 2}. Our simulations also reveal that the gas temperature in the overheated regions depends on black hole spin, which would be due to efficient energy transport from black hole to disks through the Poynting flux, resulting in gas heating.

• OSTI ID: 22868883
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 826; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ACCRETION DISKS
AUGMENTATION
BLACK HOLES
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
LUMINOSITY
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
MASS
ORBITS
RELATIVISTIC RANGE
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
X-RAY SOURCES