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Title: Two-temperature GRRMHD Simulations of M87

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal (Online)

Here, we present axisymmetric two-temperature general relativistic radiation magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the inner region of the accretion flow onto the supermassive black hole M87. We address uncertainties from previous modeling efforts through inclusion of models for (1) self-consistent dissipative and Coulomb electron heating (2) radiation transport (3) frequency-dependent synchrotron emission, self-absorption, and Compton scattering. We adopt a distance D = 16.7 Mpc, an observer angle θ = 20°, and consider black hole masses M/M = (3.3 x 109, 6.2 x 109) and spins astar = (0.5, 0.9375) in a four-simulation suite. For each (M, astar), we identify the accretion rate that recovers the 230 GHz flux from very long baseline interferometry measurements. We report on disk thermodynamics at these accretion rates (M·/M·Edd ~ 10-5). The disk remains geometrically thick; cooling does not lead to a thin disk component. While electron heating is dominated by Coulomb rather than dissipation for r ≳ 10GM/c 2, the accretion disk remains two-temperature. Radiative cooling of electrons is not negligible, especially for r ≲ 10GM/c 2. The Compton y parameter is of order unity. We then compare derived and observed or inferred spectra, millimeter images, and jet powers. Simulations with M/M = 3.3 × 109 are in conflict with observations. These simulations produce millimeter images that are too small, while the low-spin simulation also overproduces X-rays. For M/M = 6.2 x 109, both simulations agree with constraints on radio/IR/X-ray fluxes and millimeter image sizes. Simulation jet power is a factor 102–103 below inferred values, a possible consequence of the modest net magnetic flux in our models.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); LANL Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); National Science Foundation (NSF); Smithsonian Institution (United States); Simons Foundation (United States)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396; AST 13-33612; AST 1715054; ACI-1053575; TM7-18006X
OSTI ID:
1479992
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-18-23675
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal (Online), Vol. 864, Issue 2; ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 48 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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The subarcsecond mid-infrared view of local active galactic nuclei: I. The N- and Q-band imaging atlas text January 2013
Electron Heating by the Ion Cyclotron Instability in Collisionless Accretion Flows. I. Compression-Driven Instabilities and the Electron Heating Mechanism text January 2014
The central parsecs of M87: jet emission and an elusive accretion disc text January 2015
An Extension of the Athena++ Code Framework for GRMHD Based on Advanced Riemann Solvers and Staggered-Mesh Constrained Transport text January 2015
Strongly magnetized accretion discs require poloidal flux text January 2016
Radiative, two-temperature simulations of low luminosity black hole accretion flows in general relativity text January 2016
Magnetorotational Turbulence and Dynamo in a Collisionless Plasma text January 2016
Kinetic and radiative power from optically thin accretion flows text January 2017
Evolving Nonthermal Electrons in Simulations of Black Hole Accretion text January 2017
The Radiative Efficiency and Spectra of Slowly Accreting Black Holes from Two-Temperature GRRMHD Simulations text January 2017
Constraining the Accretion Rate Onto Sagittarius A* Using Linear Polarization text January 2000
Chandra X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy of the M87 Jet and Nucleus text January 2001
Magnetically Driven Accretion Flows in the Kerr Metric I: Models and Overall Structure text January 2003
The Intrinsic Size of Sagittarius A* from 0.35 cm to 6 cm text January 2006
Thermal and Non-Thermal Infrared Emission from M87 text January 2006
Simulating the Emission and Outflows from Accretion Disks text January 2007
Advection-Dominated Accretion and the Spectral States of Black Hole X-Ray Binaries: Application to Nova Muscae 1991 text January 1997
Particle Heating by Alfvenic Turbulence in Hot Accretion Flows text January 1997

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Two-Temperature Magnetohydrodynamics Simulations of Propagation of Semi-Relativistic Jets journal January 2019
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Radiative Properties of Magnetically Arrested Disks journal December 2019
The Event Horizon General Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Code Comparison Project journal August 2019
First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. V. Physical Origin of the Asymmetric Ring journal April 2019
First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. VI. The Shadow and Mass of the Central Black Hole journal April 2019
The Event Horizon General Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Code Comparison Project collection January 2019
Neutrino emission from BL Lac objects: the role of radiatively inefficient accretion flows text January 2018
Electron and Proton Heating in Transrelativistic Guide Field Reconnection text January 2019
The Event Horizon General Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Code Comparison Project text January 2019
First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. V. Physical Origin of the Asymmetric Ring text January 2019