Low Angular Momentum Accretion Research Articles

Accretion flows around spinning compact objects in the post-Newtonian regime

We present the structure of a low angular momentum accretion flows around rotating compact objects incorporating relativistic corrections up to the leading post-Newtonian order. To begin with, we formulate the governing post-Newtonian hydrodynamic equations for the mass and energy-momentum flux without imposing any symmetries. However, for the sake of simplicity, we consider the flow to be stationary, axisymmetric, and inviscid. Toward this, we adapt the polytropic equation of state (EoS) and analyze the vertically integrated accretion flow confined to the equatorial plane. It is shown that the spin-orbit effects manifest themselves in the accretion dynamics. In the present analysis, we focus on global transonic accretion solutions, where a subsonic flow enters far away from the compact object and gradually gains radial velocity as it moves inwards. Thus, the flow becomes supersonic after reaching a certain radius, known as the critical point. To better understand the transonic solutions and examine the effect of post-Newtonian corrections, we classify the post-Newtonian equations into semi-relativistic (SR), semi-Newtonian (SN), and non-relativistic (NR) limits and compare the accretion solutions and their corresponding flow variables. With these, we find that SR and SN flow are in good agreement all throughout, although they deviate largely from the NR ones. Interestingly, the density profile seems to follow the profile ρ ∝ r -3/2 in the post-Newtonian regime. The present study has the potential to connect Newtonian and GR descriptions of accretion dynamics.

The angular momentum structure of cosmic ray driven galactic outflows triggered by stream accretion

Abstract We investigate the impact of gas accretion in streams on the evolution of disc galaxies, using magneto-hydrodynamic simulations including advection and anisotropic diffusion of cosmic rays generated by supernovae as the only source of feedback. Stream accretion has been suggested as an important galaxy growth mechanism in cosmological simulations and we vary their orientation and angular momentum in idealised setups. We find that accretion streams trigger the formation of galactic rings and enhanced star formation. The star formation rates and consequently the cosmic ray driven outflow rates are higher for low angular momentum accretion streams, which also result in more compact, lower angular momentum discs. The cosmic ray generated outflows show a characteristic structure. At low outflow velocities (<50 km s−1) the angular momentum distribution is similar to the disk and the gas is in a fountain flow. Gas at high outflow velocities (>200 km s−1), penetrating deep into the halo, has close to zero angular momentum, and originates from the centre of the galaxies. As the mass loading factors of the cosmic ray driven outflows are of order unity and higher, we conclude that this process is important for the removal of low angular momentum gas from evolving disk galaxies and the transport of, potentially metal enriched, material from galactic centres far into the galactic haloes.

Influence of flow thickness on general relativistic low angular momentum accretion around spinning black holes

General relativistic, axisymmetric flow of low angular momentum accretion around a Kerr black hole can have certain geometric configuration where the flow is maintained in hydrostatic equilibrium along the vertical direction (direction orthogonal to the equatorial plane of the flow). The flow thickness for such accretion models becomes a function of the local radial distance measured from the black hole horizon. There are three types of functions defined in the literature which resemble the thickness of the flow for such a configuration. We formulate the equations governing the steady state astrophysical accretion characterized by both the polytropic as well as the isothermal equation of state in classical thermodynamics. We solve the equations within the framework of such geometric configuration for three different thickness functions, to obtain the multi-transonic, shocked, stationary integral accretion solutions. Such solutions enable us to study how flow thickness influences the dependence of the properties of post-shock flows on black hole spin angular momentum, i.e., the Kerr parameter. For temperature-preserving standings shocks, we find that the post-shock part of the disc can become luminous and considerable amount of gravitational energy carried by the accreting fluid can get liberated at the shock. We find which kind of thickness function produces the maximum liberated energy, making the disc most luminous.

Clumpy Wind Accretion in Cygnus X-1

Abstract Cygnus X-1 is one of the brightest X-ray sources observed and shows the X-ray intensity variations on timescales from milliseconds to months in both the soft and hard X-rays. The accretion onto the black hole is believed to be wind fed due to focused stellar wind from the binary companion HDE-226868. We aim to understand the physical mechanism responsible for the short timescale X-ray variability (<100 s) of the source in its hard/low state. We compute the 2D relativistic hydrodynamic simulation of the low angular momentum accretion flow with a time-dependent outer boundary condition that reflects the focused, clumpy wind from the supergiant in this X-ray binary system. We follow the dynamical evolution of our model for about 100 s and present the results showing an oscillatory shock, being a potential explanation of variability observed in hard X-rays. The simulated model with shock solutions is in good agreement with the observed power density spectra of the source.

Effects of Magnetic Field Loops on the Dynamics of Advective Accretion Flows and Jets around a Schwarzschild Black Hole

Abstract Magnetic fields advected along with low angular momentum accretion flows predominantly become toroidal owing to the strong azimuthal velocity close to a black hole. We study self-consistently the movements of these flux tubes inside an advective disk and how they dynamically influence the flow. We find that the centrifugal barrier slows down the radial motion of the flux tubes. In this case, the large magnetic flux tubes with a significant drag force escape along the vertical axis owing to buoyancy. Magnetic pressure rises close to the black hole and, together with the centrifugal force, combats gravity. The tug-of-war among these forces causes the centrifugal-pressure-supported shock to oscillate radially. We study the effects of successive injection of flux tubes and find how the flux tube could be trapped inside the disk in regions of highest entropy. Most interestingly, the shock wave remains at its average location and is not destroyed. We show that the toroidal field loops contribute significantly to collimate and accelerate the outflows from the centrifugal barrier and suggest that this mechanism is a way to collimate and accelerate jets.

Effects of adiabatic index on the sonic surface and time variability of low angular momentum accretion flows

We study the role of adiabatic index in determining the critical points in the transonic low angular momentum accretion flow onto a black hole. We present the general relativistic 2D hydrodynamic simulations of axisymmetric, inviscid accretion flows in a fixed Kerr black hole gravitational field. A relativistic fluid where its bulk velocity is comparable to the speed of light, flowing in the accretion disk very close to the horizon can be described by an adiabatic index of 4/3 < {\gamma} < 5/3. The time dependent evolution of the shock position and respective effects on mass accretion rate and oscillation frequency with varying adiabatic index is discussed in the context of the observed microquasars.

Linear perturbations of low angular momentum accretion flow in the Kerr metric and the corresponding emergent gravity phenomena

For certain geometric configuration of matter falling onto a rotating black hole, we develop a novel linear perturbation analysis scheme to perform the stability analysis of stationary integral accretion solutions corresponding to the steady state low angular momentum, inviscid, barotropic, irrotational, general relativistic accretion of hydrodynamic fluid. We demonstrate that such steady states remain stable under linear perturbation, and hence the stationary solutions are reliable to probe the black hole spacetime using the accretion phenomena.We report that a relativistic acoustic geometry emerges out as the consequence of such stability analysis procedure. We study various properties of that sonic geometry in detail. We construct the causal structures to establish the one to one correspondences of the sonic points with the acoustic black hole horizons, and the shock location with an acoustic white hole horizon. The influence of the spin of the rotating black holes on the emergence of such acoustic spacetime has been discussed.

Low angular momentum accretion of fractal medium on to Kerr black holes and the emergence of the acoustic manifold

For three different geometric configurations of matter and two different thermodynamic equations of state, low angular momentum, multi-transonic, axially symmetric accretion flow of matter having fractional dimension of mass distribution onto a rotating black hole has been studied by employing certain post-Newtonian pseudo-Kerr black hole potential. Such task has been accomplished mathematically by mapping the fractal nature of accreted medium onto its continuum counterpart. The difference between spin dependence of accretion dynamics of the fractal medium and the continuous medium has been highlighted. By employing a time dependent linear perturbation scheme, it has been demonstrated that accretion of matter with fractional dimension of density distribution can be considered as a natural example of classical analogue model. The corresponding acoustic surface gravity has been estimated in terms of accretion variables. The value of the surface gravity changes as the accreted matter makes a transition from its fractal nature to the corresponding continuum distribution.

Relativistic low angular momentum accretion: long time evolution of hydrodynamical inviscid flows

We investigate relativistic low angular momentum accretion of inviscid perfect fluid onto a Schwarzschild black hole. The simulations are performed with a general-relativistic, high-resolution (second-order), shock-capturing, hydrodynamical numerical code. We use horizon-penetrating Eddington–Finkelstein coordinates to remove inaccuracies in regions of strong gravity near the black hole horizon and show the expected convergence of the code with the Michel solution and stationary Fishbone–Moncrief toroids. We recover, in the framework of relativistic hydrodynamics, the qualitative behavior known from previous Newtonian studies that used a Bondi background flow in a pseudo-relativistic gravitational potential with a latitude-dependent angular momentum at the outer boundary. Our models exhibit characteristic ‘turbulent’ behavior and the attained accretion rates are lower than those of the Bondi–Michel radial flow. For sufficiently low values of the asymptotic sound speed, geometrically thick tori form in the equatorial plane surrounding the black hole horizon while accretion takes place mainly through the poles.

Transonic structure of slowly rotating accretion flows with shocks around black holes

AbstractWe present recent results of the studies of low angular momentum accretion of matter onto Schwarzschild black hole using fully relativistic numerical simulations. We compare the resulting 2D structure of transonic flows with results of 1D pseudo-Newtonian computations of non-magnetized flow. The research has observable consequences on black holes on the whole mass scale, in particular it is related to the time-scale and shape of luminosity flares in Sgr A* or to the evolution of QPO frequency during outbursts of microquasars.

Unstable mass-outflows in geometrically thick accretion flows around black holes

Accretion flows around black holes generally result in mass-outflows that exhibit irregular behavior quite often. Using 2D time-dependent hydrodynamical calculations, we show that the mass-outflow is unstable in the cases of thick accretion flows such as the low angular momentum accretion flow and the advection-dominated accretion flow. For the low angular momentum flow, the inward accreting matter on the equatorial plane interacts with the outflowing gas along the rotational axis and the centrifugally supported oblique shock is formed at the interface of both the flows, when the viscosity parameter $\alpha$ is as small as $\alpha \le 10^{-3}$. The hot and rarefied blobs, which result in the eruptive mass-outflow, are generated in the inner shocked region and grow up toward the outer boundary. The advection-dominated accretion flow attains finally in the form of a torus disc with the inner edge of the disc at $3R_{\rm g} \le r \le 6R_{\rm g}$ and the center at $6R_ {\rm g} \le r \le 10R_{\rm g}$, and a series of hot blobs is intermittently formed near the inner edge of the torus and grows up along the outer surface of the torus. As a result, the luminosity and the mass-outflow rate are modulated irregularly where the luminosity is enhanced by 10-40% and the mass-outflow rate is increaed by a factor of few up to ten. We interpret the unstable nature of the outflow to be due to the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, examining the Richardson number for the Kelvin-Helmholtz criterion in the inner region of the flow. We propose that the flare phenomena of Sgr A* may be induced by the unstable mass-outflow as is found in this work.

Shocks in the low angular momentum accretion flow

We address the variability of low luminous galactic nuclei including the Sgr A* or other transient accreting systems, e.g. the black hole X-ray binaries, such as GX 339-4 or IGR J17091. These sources exhibit bright X-ray flares and quasi-periodical oscillations and are theoretically interpreted as the quasi-spherical accretion flows, formed instead of or around Keplerianaccretion disks. In low angular momentum flows the existence of shocks for some range of leading parameters (energy, angular momentum and adiabatic constant of the gas) was studied semi-analytically. The possible hysteresis effect, caused by the fact that the evolution of the flow and the formation of the shock depends on its own history, was discovered. The presence of the shock in the accreted material is important for the observable properties of the out-coming radiation. In the shocked region the gas is dense and hot, thus much more luminous than in the other case. We study the appearance of standing shocks in low angular momentum gas accreting onto a black hole with numerical hydrodynamicalsimulations, using the ZEUS code with Paczynski-Wiitapseudo-Newtonian potential.

Black hole spin dependence of general relativistic multi-transonic accretion close to the horizon

We introduce a novel formalism to investigate the role of the spin angular momentum of astrophysical black holes in influencing the behavior of low angular momentum general relativistic accretion. We propose a metric independent analysis of axisymmetric general relativistic flow, and consequently formulate the space and time dependent equations describing the general relativistic hydrodynamic accretion flow in the Kerr metric. The associated stationary critical solutions for such flow equations are provided and the stability of the stationary transonic configuration is examined using an elegant linear perturbation technique. We examine the properties of infalling material for both prograde and retrograde accretion as a function of the Kerr parameter at extremely close proximity to the event horizon. Our formalism can be used to identify a new spectral signature of black hole spin, and has the potential of performing the black hole shadow imaging corresponding to the low angular momentum accretion flow.

EFFECTS OF THE COMPOSITION ON TRANSONIC PROPERTIES OF ACCRETION FLOWS AROUND BLACK HOLES

We study the properties of a steady, multi-species, low angular momentum accretion flow around a Schwarzschild black hole. Each species is described by a relativistic equation of state. We find that the transonic properties depend strongly on the composition of the flow. We find that an electron-positron pair plasma is the least relativistic one. This flow produces only one sonic point very close to the event horizon and does not show multiple critical points for any angular momentum or energy. When the baryons are present, the number of critical points depend on the specific energy content. Since the number of critical points decide whether the flow will have nonlinearities or shock waves, our results imply that whether standing shocks will form or not depends on the flow composition. Thus, for instance, a pure electron-positron pair plasma will never undergo a shock transition, while mixing it with some baryons (common in outflows and jets, for example) as in a completely ionized gas, will have shocks. We study in detail how the baryon loading affects the shock properties and discuss the implications in astrophysical observations.

Hysteresis effects and diagnostics of the shock formation in low angular momentum axisymmetric accretion in the Kerr metric

The secular evolution of the purely general relativistic low angular momentum accretion flow around a spinning black hole is shown to exhibit hysteresis effects. This confirms that a stationary shock is an integral part of such an accretion disc in the Kerr metric. The equations describing the space gradient of the dynamical flow velocity of the accreting matter have been shown to be equivalent to a first order autonomous dynamical systems. Fixed point analysis ensures that such flow must be multi-transonic for certain astrophysically relevant initial boundary conditions. Contrary to the existing consensus in the literature, the critical points and the sonic points are proved not to be isomorphic in general, they can form in a completely different length scales. Physically acceptable global transonic solutions must produce odd number of critical points. Homoclinic orbits for the flow possessing multiple critical points select the critical point with the higher entropy accretion rate, confirming that the entropy accretion rate is the degeneracy removing agent in the system. However, heteroclinic orbits are also observed for some special situation, where both the saddle type critical points of the flow configuration possesses identical entropy accretion rate. Topologies with heteroclinic orbits are thus the only allowed non-removable degenerate solutions for accretion flow with multiple critical points, and are shown to be structurally unstable. Depending on suitable initial boundary conditions, a homoclinic trajectory can be combined with a standard non-homoclinic orbit through an energy preserving Rankine–Hugoniot type of stationary shock, and multi-critical accretion flow then becomes truly multi-transonic. An effective Lyapunov index has been proposed to analytically confirm why certain class of transonic flow cannot accommodate shock solutions even if it produces multiple critical points.

Radiation spectra from MHD simulations of low angular momentum flows

AbstractWe perform Monte Carlo calculation to determine the radiation spectra from magnetized, low angular momentum accretion flow. Magneto-hydrodynamical simulation (with angular momentum parameter lambda of about 2 Rg c) was performed by Proga &amp; Begelman 2003. Because simulation neglect radiative cooling, we compute electron temperature separately, including ohmic heating, parametrized with small δ coefficient, ion-electron coupling, radiative cooling and advection. Radiation spectra are obtained taking into account, thermal synchrotron and bremsstrahlung radiation, self absorption and Comptonization processes.We show which parts of the flow are responsible for characteristic spectral features and how the spectrum changes in different accretion states. We compare our results with Galactic Center black hole radiation spectra, where low angular momentum accretion is suggested. Accretion state changes seems to be a promising model for the flaring behavior of Galactic Center black hole. We also show the radiation intensity maps in radio and X-rays energy band for viewing angle i = 90°.

Accretion Modes in Collapsars: Prospects for Gamma‐Ray Burst Production

We explore low angular momentum accretion flows onto black holes formed after the collapse of massive stellar cores. In particular, we consider the state of the gas falling quasi-spherically onto stellar-mass black holes in the hypercritical regime, where the accretion rates are in the range 0.001 - 0.5 solar masses per second and neutrinos dominate the cooling. Previous studies have assumed that in order to have a black hole switch to a luminous state, the condition l >> r_g c, where l is the specific orbital angular momentum of the infalling gas and r_g is the Schwarszchild radius, needs to be fulfilled. We argue that flows in hyperaccreting, stellar mass disks around black holes are likely to transition to a highly radiative state when their angular momentum is just above the threshold for disk formation, l ~ 2 r_g c. In a range where l lies between r_g c and 2 r_g c, a dwarf disk forms in which gas spirals rapidly into the black hole due to general relativistic effects, without any help from horizontal viscous stresses. For high rotation rates with l greater than 2 r_g c, the luminosity is supplied by large, hot equatorial bubbles around the black hole. The highest neutrino luminosities are obtained for l ~ 2 r_g c, and this value of angular momentum also produces the most energetic neutrinos, and thus also the highest energy deposition rates. Given the range of l explored in this work, we argue that, as long as l is greater than 2 r_g c, low angular momentum cores may in fact be better suited for producing neutrino--driven explosions following core collapse in supernovae and gamma ray bursts.

PROPERTIES OF ACCRETION SHOCKS IN VISCOUS FLOWS WITH COOLING EFFECTS

Low angular momentum accretion flows can have standing and oscillating shock waves. We study the region of the parameter space in which multiple sonic points occur in viscous flows in presence of various cooling effects such as bremsstrahlung and Comptonization. We also quantify the parameter space in which shocks are steady or oscillating. We find that cooling induces effects opposite to heating by viscosity even in modifying the topology of the solutions, though one can never be exactly balanced by the other due to their dissimilar dependence on dynamic and thermodynamic parameters. We show that beyond a critical value of cooling, the flow ceases to contain a shock wave.

Spectra and Line Profiles of FU Orionis Objects: Comparisons between Boundary Layer Models and Observations

We present solutions for the accretion disks and boundary layers in pre-main-sequence stars undergoing FU Orionis outbursts. These solutions differ from earlier disk solutions in that they include a self-consistent treatment of the boundary layer region. In a previous paper (Popham 1996), we showed that these stars should stop accreting angular momentum once they spin up to modest rotation rates. Here we show that for reasonable values of $\alpha$, these low angular momentum accretion rate solutions fit the spectra and line profiles observed in FU Orionis objects better than solutions with high rates of angular momentum accretion. We find solutions which fit the observations of FU Orionis and V1057 Cygni. These solutions have mass accretion rates of 2 and $1 \times 10^{-4} \msyr$, stellar masses of 0.7 and $0.5 \msun$, and stellar radii of 5.75 and $5.03 \rsun$, respectively. They also have modest stellar rotation rates $8-9 \xss$, comparable to the observed rotation rates of T Tauri stars, and angular momentum accretion rates of zero. This supports our earlier suggestion that FU Orionis outbursts may regulate the rotation rates of T Tauri stars.