Accretion discs with strong toroidal magnetic fields

Abstract

Simulations and analytic arguments suggest that the turbulence driven by magnetorotational instability (MRI) in accretion discs can amplify the toroidal (azimuthal) component of the magnetic field to a point at which magnetic pressure exceeds the combined gas + radiation pressure in the disc. Arguing from the recent analysis by Pessah & Psaltis, and other MRI results in the literature, we conjecture that the limiting field strength for a thin disc is such that the Alfvén speed roughly equals the geometric mean of the Keplerian speed and the speed of sound in gas. We examine the properties of such magnetically dominated discs, and show that they resolve a number of outstanding problems in accretion disc theory. The discs would be thicker than standard (Shakura–Sunyaev) discs at the same radius and accretion rate, and would tend to have higher colour temperatures. If they transport angular momentum according to an α prescription, they would be stable against the thermal and viscous instabilities that are found in standard disc models. In discs fuelling active galactic nuclei, magnetic pressure support could also alleviate the restriction on accretion rate imposed by disc self-gravity.