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Title: General Relativistic Radiative Transfer and GeneralRelativistic MHD Simulations of Accretion and Outflows of Black Holes

Journal Article · · Astrophys.J.
OSTI ID:896925

We calculate the emission from relativistic flows in black hole systems using a fully general relativistic radiative transfer formulation, with flow structures obtained by general relativistic magneto-hydrodynamic simulations. We consider thermal free-free emission and thermal synchrotron emission. Bright filament-like features protrude (visually) from the accretion disk surface, which are enhancements of synchrotron emission where the magnetic field roughly aligns with the line-of-sight in the co-moving frame. The features move back and forth as the accretion flow evolves, but their visibility and morphology are robust. We propose that variations and drifts of the features produce certain X-ray quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) observed in black-hole X-ray binaries.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515
OSTI ID:
896925
Report Number(s):
SLAC-PUB-12270; TRN: US200705%%71
Journal Information:
Astrophys.J., Journal Name: Astrophys.J.
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English