skip to main content

Title: Large-scale poloidal magnetic field dynamo leads to powerful jets in GRMHD simulations of black hole accretion with toroidal field
ABSTRACT Accreting black holes (BHs) launch relativistic collimated jets, across many decades in luminosity and mass, suggesting the jet launching mechanism is universal, robust, and scale-free. Theoretical models and general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations indicate that the key jet-making ingredient is large-scale poloidal magnetic flux. However, its origin is uncertain, and it is unknown if it can be generated in situ or dragged inward from the ambient medium. Here, we use the GPU-accelerated GRMHD code h-amr to study global 3D BH accretion at unusually high resolutions more typical of local shearing box simulations. We demonstrate that turbulence in a radially extended accretion disc can generate large-scale poloidal magnetic flux in situ, even when starting from a purely toroidal magnetic field. The flux accumulates around the BH till it becomes dynamically important, leads to a magnetically arrested disc (MAD), and launches relativistic jets that are more powerful than the accretion flow. The jet power exceeds that of previous GRMHD toroidal field simulations by a factor of 10 000. The jets do not show significant kink or pinch instabilities, accelerate to γ ∼ 10 over three decades in distance, and follow a collimation profile similar to the observed M87 jet.
Authors:
; ;
Award ID(s):
1815304
Publication Date:
NSF-PAR ID:
10189310
Journal Name:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume:
494
Issue:
3
Page Range or eLocation-ID:
3656 to 3662
ISSN:
0035-8711
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ABSTRACT

    We present a suite of the first 3D GRMHD collapsar simulations, which extend from the self-consistent jet launching by an accreting Kerr black hole (BH) to the breakout from the star. We identify three types of outflows, depending on the angular momentum, l, of the collapsing material and the magnetic field, B, on the BH horizon: (i) subrelativistic outflow (low l and high B), (ii) stationary accretion shock instability (SASI; high l and low B), (iii) relativistic jets (high l and high B). In the absence of jets, free-fall of the stellar envelope provides a good estimate for the BH accretion rate. Jets can substantially suppress the accretion rate, and their duration can be limited by the magnetization profile in the star. We find that progenitors with large (steep) inner density power-law indices (≳ 2), face extreme challenges as gamma-ray burst (GRB) progenitors due to excessive luminosity, global time evolution in the light curve throughout the burst and short breakout times, inconsistent with observations. Our results suggest that the wide variety of observed explosion appearances (supernova/supernova + GRB/low-luminosity GRBs) and the characteristics of the emitting relativistic outflows (luminosity and duration) can be naturally explained by the differences in the progenitor structure.more »Our simulations reveal several important jet features: (i) strong magnetic dissipation inside the star, resulting in weakly magnetized jets by breakout that may have significant photospheric emission and (ii) spontaneous emergence of tilted accretion disc-jet flows, even in the absence of any tilt in the progenitor.

    « less
  2. Abstract X-shaped radio galaxies (XRGs) produce misaligned X-shaped jet pairs and make up ≲10% of radio galaxies. XRGs are thought to emerge in galaxies featuring a binary supermassive black hole (SMBH), SMBH merger, or large-scale ambient medium asymmetry. We demonstrate that XRG morphology can naturally form without such special, preexisting conditions. Our 3D general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulation for the first time follows magnetized rotating gas from outside the SMBH sphere of influence of radius R B to the SMBH of gravitational radius R g at the largest scale separation, R B / R g = 10 3 , to date. Initially, our axisymmetric system of constant-density hot gas contains a weak vertical magnetic field and rotates in the equatorial plane of a rapidly spinning SMBH. We seed the gas with small-scale 2% level pressure perturbations. Infalling gas forms an accretion disk, and the SMBH launches relativistically magnetized collimated jets reaching well outside R B . Under the pressure of the infalling gas, the jets intermittently turn on and off, erratically wobble, and inflate pairs of cavities in different directions, resembling an X-shaped jet morphology. Synthetic X-ray images reveal multiple pairs of jet-powered shocks and cavities. Large-scale magnetic flux accumulates onmore »the SMBH, becomes dynamically important, and leads to a magnetically arrested disk state. The SMBH accretes at 2% of the Bondi rate ( M ̇ ≃ 2.4 × 10 − 3 M ⊙ yr − 1 for M87*) and launches twin jets at η = 150% efficiency. These jets are powerful enough ( P jets ≃ 2 × 10 44 erg s −1 ) to escape along the SMBH spin axis and end the short-lived intermittent jet state, whose transient nature can account for the rarity of XRGs.« less
  3. ABSTRACT

    Wind-fed models offer a unique way to form predictive models of the accretion flow surrounding Sagittarius A*. We present 3D wind-fed magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) and general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations spanning the entire dynamic range of accretion from parsec scales to the event horizon. We expand on previous work by including non-zero black hole spin and dynamically evolved electron thermodynamics. Initial conditions for these simulations are generated from simulations of the observed Wolf–Rayet stellar winds in the Galactic Centre. The resulting flow tends to be highly magnetized (β ≈ 2) with an ∼r−1 density profile independent of the strength of magnetic fields in the winds. Our simulations reach the magnetically arrested disc (MAD) state for some, but not all cases. In tilted flows, standard and normal evolution (SANE) jets tend to align with the angular momentum of the gas at large scales, even if that direction is perpendicular to the black hole spin axis. Conversely, MAD jets tend to align with the black hole spin axis. The gas angular momentum shows similar behaviour: SANE flows tend to only partially align while MAD flows tend to fully align. With a limited number of dynamical free parameters, our models can produce accretion rates,more »230 GHz flux, and unresolved linear polarization fractions roughly consistent with observations for several choices of electron heating fraction. Absent another source of large-scale magnetic field, winds with a higher degree of magnetization (e.g. where the magnetic pressure is 1/100 of the ram pressure in the winds) may be required to get a sufficiently large rotation measure with consistent sign.

    « less
  4. Abstract Astrophysical jets, launched from the immediate vicinity of accreting black holes, carry away large amounts of power in a form of bulk kinetic energy of jet particles and electromagnetic flux. Here we consider a simple analytical model for relativistic jets at larger distances from their launching sites, assuming a cylindrical axisymmetric geometry with a radial velocity shear, and purely toroidal magnetic field. We argue that as long as the jet plasma is in magnetohydrostatic equilibrium, such outflows tend to be particle dominated, i.e., the ratio of the electromagnetic to particle energy flux, integrated over the jet cross-sectional area, is typically below unity, σ < 1. At the same time, for particular magnetic and radial velocity profiles, magnetic pressure may still dominate over particle pressure for certain ranges of the jet radius, i.e., the local jet plasma parameter β pl < 1, and this may be relevant in the context of particle acceleration and production of high-energy emission in such systems. The jet magnetization parameter can be elevated up to the modest values of σ ≲  ( 10 ) only in the case of extreme gradients or discontinuities in the gaseous pressure, and a significantly suppressed velocity shear. Suchmore »configurations, which consist of a narrow, unmagnetized jet spine surrounded by an extended, force-free layer, may require an additional poloidal field component to stabilize them against current-driven oscillations, but even this will not substantially elevate their σ parameter.« less
  5. ABSTRACT

    Magnetically arrested accretion discs (MADs) around black holes (BHs) have the potential to stimulate the production of powerful jets and account for recent ultra-high-resolution observations of BH environments. Their main properties are usually attributed to the accumulation of dynamically significant net magnetic (vertical) flux throughout the arrested region, which is then regulated by interchange instabilities. Here, we propose instead that it is mainly a dynamically important toroidal field – the result of dynamo action triggered by the significant but still relatively weak vertical field – that defines and regulates the properties of MADs. We suggest that rapid convection-like instabilities, involving interchange of toroidal flux tubes and operating concurrently with the magnetorotational instability (MRI), can regulate the structure of the disc and the escape of net flux. We generalize the convective stability criteria and disc structure equations to include the effects of a strong toroidal field and show that convective flows could be driven towards two distinct marginally stable states, one of which we associate with MADs. We confirm the plausibility of our theoretical model by comparing its quantitative predictions to simulations of both MAD and SANE (standard and normal evolution; strongly magnetized but not ‘arrested’) discs, and suggest amore »set of criteria that could help to distinguish MADs from other accretion states. Contrary to previous claims in the literature, we argue that MRI is not suppressed in MADs and is probably responsible for the existence of the strong toroidal field.

    « less