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1. Direct collapse of exceptionally heavy black holes in the merger-driven scenario

   https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac3204  

   Zwick, Lorenz ; Mayer, Lucio ; Haemmerlé, Lionel ; Klessen, Ralf S. ( November 2022 , Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society)

   We revisit the conditions present in supermassive discs (SMDs) formed by the merger of gas-rich, metal-enriched galaxies at redshift z ∼ 10. We find that SMDs naturally form hydrostatic cores which go through a rapidly accreting supermassive star phase, before directly collapsing into massive black holes via the general relativistic instability. The growth and collapse of the cores occurs within ∼5 × 105 yr from the formation of the SMD, producing bright electromagnetic, neutrino and gravitational wave transients with a typical duration of a few minutes and, respectively, a typical flux and a typical strain amplitude at Earth of ∼10−8 erg s−1 cm−2 and ∼4 × 10−21. We provide a simple fitting formula for the resulting black hole masses, which range from a few 106 to 108 M⊙ depending on the initial SMD configuration. Crucially, our analysis does not require any specific assumption on the thermal properties of the gas, nor on the angular momentum loss mechanisms within the SMD. Led by these findings, we argue that the merger-driven scenario provides a robust pathway for the rapid formation of supermassive black holes at z > 6. It provides an explanation for the origin of the brightest and oldest quasars without the need ofmore »a sustained growth phase from a much smaller seed. Its smoking gun signatures can be tested directly via multimessenger observations.

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2. Measuring Photon Rings with the ngEHT

   https://doi.org/10.3390/galaxies10060111  

   Tiede, Paul ; Johnson, Michael D. ; Pesce, Dominic W. ; Palumbo, Daniel C. ; Chang, Dominic O. ; Galison, Peter ( December 2022 , Galaxies)

   General relativity predicts that images of optically thin accretion flows around black holes should generically have a “photon ring”, composed of a series of increasingly sharp subrings that correspond to increasingly strongly lensed emission near the black hole. Because the effects of lensing are determined by the spacetime curvature, the photon ring provides a pathway to precise measurements of the black hole properties and tests of the Kerr metric. We explore the prospects for detecting and measuring the photon ring using very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) with the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) and the next-generation EHT (ngEHT). We present a series of tests using idealized self-fits to simple geometrical models and show that the EHT observations in 2017 and 2022 lack the angular resolution and sensitivity to detect the photon ring, while the improved coverage and angular resolution of ngEHT at 230 GHz and 345 GHz is sufficient for these models. We then analyze detection prospects using more realistic images from general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations by applying “hybrid imaging”, which simultaneously models two components: a flexible raster image (to capture the direct emission) and a ring component. Using the Bayesian VLBI modeling package Comrade.jl, we show that the results ofmore »hybrid imaging must be interpreted with extreme caution for both photon ring detection and measurement—hybrid imaging readily produces false positives for a photon ring, and its ring measurements do not directly correspond to the properties of the photon ring.« less
3. Spherically symmetric accretion on to a compact object through a standing shock: the effects of general relativity in the Schwarzschild geometry

   https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac2494  

   Kundu, Suman Kumar ; Coughlin, Eric R. ( September 2022 , Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society)

   A core-collapse supernova is generated by the passage of a shock wave through the envelope of a massive star, where the shock wave is initially launched from the ‘bounce’ of the neutron star formed during the collapse of the stellar core. Instead of successfully exploding the star, however, numerical investigations of core-collapse supernovae find that this shock tends to ‘stall’ at small radii (≲10 neutron star radii), with stellar material accreting on to the central object through the standing shock. Here, we present time-steady, adiabatic solutions for the density, pressure, and velocity of the shocked fluid that accretes on to the compact object through the stalled shock, and we include the effects of general relativity in the Schwarzschild metric. Similar to previous works that were carried out in the Newtonian limit, we find that the gas ‘settles’ interior to the stalled shock; in the relativistic regime analysed here, the velocity asymptotically approaches zero near the Schwarzschild radius. These solutions can represent accretion on to a material surface if the radius of the compact object is outside of its event horizon, such as a neutron star; we also discuss the possibility that these solutions can approximately represent the accretion ofmore »gas on to a newly formed black hole following a core-collapse event. Our findings and solutions are particularly relevant in weak and failed supernovae, where the shock is pushed to small radii and relativistic effects are large.

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4. Radiation GRMHD simulations of M87: funnel properties and prospects for gap acceleration

   https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab2462  

   Yao, Philippe Z ; Dexter, Jason ; Chen, Alexander Y ; Ryan, Benjamin R ; Wong, George N ( September 2021 , Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society)

   Abstract We use the public code ebhlight to carry out 3D radiative general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (GRMHD) simulations of accretion on to the supermassive black hole in M87. The simulations self-consistently evolve a frequency-dependent Monte Carlo description of the radiation field produced by the accretion flow. We explore two limits of accumulated magnetic flux at the black hole (SANE and MAD), each coupled to several subgrid prescriptions for electron heating that are motivated by models of turbulence and magnetic reconnection. We present convergence studies for the radiation field and study its properties. We find that the near-horizon photon energy density is an order of magnitude higher than is predicted by simple isotropic estimates from the observed luminosity. The radially dependent photon momentum distribution is anisotropic and can be modeled by a set of point-sources near the equatorial plane. We draw properties of the radiation and magnetic field from the simulation and feed them into an analytic model of gap acceleration to estimate the very high energy (VHE) γ-ray luminosity from the magnetized jet funnel, assuming that a gap is able to form. We find luminosities of $\rm \sim 10^{41} \, erg \, s^{-1}$ for MAD models and $\rm \sim 2\times 10^{40}more »\, erg \, s^{-1}$ for SANE models, which are comparable to measurements of M87’s VHE flares. The time-dependence seen in our calculations is insufficient to explain the flaring behaviour. Our results provide a step towards bridging theoretical models of near-horizon properties seen in black hole images with the VHE activity of M87.« less
5. Evidence for X-Ray Emission in Excess to the Jet-afterglow Decay 3.5 yr after the Binary Neutron Star Merger GW 170817: A New Emission Component

   https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ac504a  

   Hajela, A. ; Margutti, R. ; Bright, J. S. ; Alexander, K. D. ; Metzger, B. D. ; Nedora, V. ; Kathirgamaraju, A. ; Margalit, B. ; Radice, D. ; Guidorzi, C. ; et al ( March 2022 , The Astrophysical Journal Letters)

   For the first ∼3 yrs after the binary neutron star merger event GW 170817, the radio and X-ray radiation has been dominated by emission from a structured relativistic off-axis jet propagating into a low-density medium withn< 0.01 cm⁻³. We report on observational evidence for an excess of X-ray emission atδt> 900 days after the merger. WithL_x≈ 5 × 10³⁸erg s⁻¹at 1234 days, the recently detected X-ray emission represents a ≥3.2σ(Gaussian equivalent) deviation from the universal post-jet-break model that best fits the multiwavelength afterglow at earlier times. In the context ofJetFitafterglow models, current data represent a departure with statistical significance ≥3.1σ, depending on the fireball collimation, with the most realistic models showing excesses at the level of ≥3.7σ. A lack of detectable 3 GHz radio emission suggests a harder broadband spectrum than the jet afterglow. These properties are consistent with the emergence of a new emission component such as synchrotron radiation from a mildly relativistic shock generated by the expanding merger ejecta, i.e., a kilonova afterglow. In this context, we present a set of ab initio numerical relativity binary neutron star (BNS) merger simulations that show that an X-ray excess supports the presence of a high-velocity tail in the mergermore »ejecta, and argues against the prompt collapse of the merger remnant into a black hole. Radiation from accretion processes on the compact-object remnant represents a viable alternative. Neither a kilonova afterglow nor accretion-powered emission have been observed before, as detections of BNS mergers at this phase of evolution are unprecedented.

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