General Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Black Hole Accretion Disks: Results and Observational Implications

Abstract

A selection of results from the general relativistic MHD accretion simulations described in the previous talk are presented. We find that the magnetic field strength increases sharply with decreasing radius and is also enhanced near rapidly-spinning black holes. The greater magnetic field strength associated with rapid black hole rotation leads to a large outward electromagnetic angular momentum flux that substantially reduces both the mean accretion rate and the net accreted angular momentum per unit rest-mass. This electromagnetic stress strongly violates the traditional guess that the accretion stress vanishes at and inside the marginally stable orbit. Possible observational consequences include a constraint on the maximum spin of black holes, enhancement to the radiative efficiency, and concentration of fluorescent Fe Kα to the innermost part of the accretion disk.