An official website of the United States government
ABSTRACT We study the flow structure in 3D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of accretion on to Sagittarius A* via the magnetized winds of the orbiting Wolf–Rayet stars. These simulations cover over 3 orders of magnitude in radius to reach ≈300 gravitational radii, with only one poorly constrained parameter (the magnetic field in the stellar winds). Even for winds with relatively weak magnetic fields (e.g. plasma β ∼ 106), flux freezing/compression in the inflowing gas amplifies the field to β ∼ few well before it reaches the event horizon. Overall, the dynamics, accretion rate, and spherically averaged flow profiles (e.g. density, velocity) in our MHD simulations are remarkably similar to analogous hydrodynamic simulations. We attribute this to the broad distribution of angular momentum provided by the stellar winds, which sources accretion even absent much angular momentum transport. We find that the magneto-rotational instability is not important because of (i) strong magnetic fields that are amplified by flux freezing/compression, and (ii) the rapid inflow/outflow times of the gas and inefficient radiative cooling preclude circularization. The primary effect of magnetic fields is that they drive a polar outflow that is absent in hydrodynamics. The dynamical state of the accretion flow found in our simulations is unlike the rotationally supported tori used as initial conditions in horizon scale simulations, which could have implications for models being used to interpret Event Horizon Telescope and GRAVITY observations of Sgr A*.
more »
« less
Kinetic simulations of imbalanced turbulence in a relativistic plasma: Net flow and particle acceleration
ABSTRACT Turbulent high-energy astrophysical systems often feature asymmetric energy injection: for instance, Alfvén waves propagating from an accretion disc into its corona. Such systems are ‘imbalanced’: the energy fluxes parallel and antiparallel to the large-scale magnetic field are unequal. In the past, numerical studies of imbalanced turbulence have focused on the magnetohydrodynamic regime. In this study, we investigate externally driven imbalanced turbulence in a collision-less, ultrarelativistically hot, magnetized pair plasma using 3D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. We find that the injected electromagnetic momentum efficiently converts into plasma momentum, resulting in net motion along the background magnetic field with speeds up to a significant fraction of lightspeed. This discovery has important implications for the launching of accretion disc winds. We also find that although particle acceleration in imbalanced turbulence operates on a slower time-scale than in balanced turbulence, it ultimately produces a power-law energy distribution similar to balanced turbulence. Our results have ramifications for black hole accretion disc coronae, winds, and jets.
more »
« less
- PAR ID:
- 10329475
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Volume:
- 509
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 0035-8711
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 3826 to 3841
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
ABSTRACT Discs are essential to the formation of both stars and planets, but how they form in magnetized molecular cloud cores remains debated. This work focuses on how the disc formation is affected by turbulence and ambipolar diffusion (AD), both separately and in combination, with an emphasis on the protostellar mass accretion phase of star formation. We find that a relatively strong, sonic turbulence on the core scale strongly warps but does not completely disrupt the well-known magnetically induced flattened pseudo-disc that dominates the inner protostellar accretion flow in the laminar case, in agreement with previous work. The turbulence enables the formation of a relatively large disc at early times with or without AD, but such a disc remains strongly magnetized and does not persist to the end of our simulation unless a relatively strong AD is also present. The AD-enabled discs in laminar simulations tend to fragment gravitationally. The disc fragmentation is suppressed by initial turbulence. The AD facilitates the disc formation and survival by reducing the field strength in the circumstellar region through magnetic flux redistribution and by making the field lines there less pinched azimuthally, especially at late times. We conclude that turbulence and AD complement each other in promoting disc formation. The discs formed in our simulations inherit a rather strong magnetic field from its parental core, with a typical plasma-β of order a few tens or smaller, which is 2–3 orders of magnitude lower than the values commonly adopted in magnetohydrodynamic simulations of protoplanetary discs. To resolve this potential tension, longer term simulations of disc formation and evolution with increasingly more realistic physics are needed.more » « less
-
null (Ed.)Abstract The magneto-rotational instability (MRI) is the most likely mechanism for transportation of angular momentum and dissipation of energy within hot, ionized accretion discs. This instability is produced through the interactions of a differentially rotating plasma with an embedded magnetic field. Like all substances in nature, the plasma in an accretion disc has the potential to become magnetically polarized when it interacts with the magnetic field. In this paper we study the effect of this magnetic susceptibility, parameterized by χm, on the MRI, specifically within the context of black hole accretion. We find from a linear analysis within the Newtonian limit that the minimum wavelength of the first unstable mode and the wavelength of the fastest growing mode are shorter in paramagnetic (χm > 0) than in diamagnetic (χm < 0) discs, all other parameters being equal. Furthermore, the magnetization parameter (ratio of gas to magnetic pressure) in the saturated state should be smaller when the magnetic susceptibility is positive than when it is negative. We confirm this latter prediction through a set of numerical simulations of magnetically polarized black hole accretion discs. We additionally find that the vertically integrated stress and mass accretion rate are somewhat larger when the disc is paramagnetic than when it is diamagnetic. If astrophysical discs are able to become magnetically polarized to any significant degree, then our results would be relevant to properly interpreting observations.more » « less
-
Abstract In a strongly magnetized, magnetically dominated relativistic plasma, Alfvénic turbulence can extend to scales much smaller than the particle inertial scales. It leads to an energy cascade somewhat analogous to inertial- or kinetic-Alfvén turbulent cascades existing in nonrelativistic space and astrophysical plasmas. Based on phenomenological modeling and particle-in-cell numerical simulations, we propose that the energy spectrum of such relativistic kinetic-scale Alfvénic turbulence is close tok−3or slightly steeper than that due to intermittency corrections or Landau damping. We note the analogy of this spectrum with the Kraichnan spectrum corresponding to the enstrophy cascade in 2D incompressible fluid turbulence. Such turbulence strongly energizes particles in the direction parallel to the background magnetic field, leading to nearly one-dimensional particle momentum distributions. We find that these distributions have universal log-normal statistics.more » « less
-
ABSTRACT Large-scale magnetic fields in the nuclear regions of protogalaxies can promote the formation and early growth of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) by direct collapse and magnetically boosted accretion. Turbulence associated with gravitational infall and star formation can drive the rms field strength toward equipartition with the mean gas kinetic energy; this field has a generic tendency to self-organize into large coherent structures. If the poloidal component of the field (relative to the rotational axis of a star-forming disc) becomes organized on scales ≲r and attains an energy of order a few per cent of the turbulent energy in the disc, then dynamo effects are expected to generate magnetic torques capable of increasing the inflow speed and thickening the disc. The accretion flow can transport matter towards the centre of mass at a rate adequate to create and grow a massive direct-collapse black hole seed and fuel the subsequent AGN at a high rate, without becoming gravitationally unstable. Fragmentation and star formation are thus suppressed and do not necessarily deplete the mass supply for the accretion flow, in contrast to prevailing models for growing and fuelling SMBHs through disc accretion.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab3209
