We present new thermal equilibrium solutions for optically thin and thick disks incorporating magnetic fields. The purpose of this paper is to explain the bright hard state and the bright/slow transition observed in the rising phases of outbursts in BHCs. On the basis of the results of 3D MHD simulations, we assume that magnetic fields inside the disk are turbulent and dominated by the azimuthal component and that the azimuthally averaged Maxwell stress is proportional to the total pressure. We prescribe the magnetic flux advection rate to determine the azimuthal magnetic flux at a given radius.
We find magnetically supported, thermally stable solutions for both optically thin and thick disks, in which the heating enhanced by the strong magnetic field balances the radiative cooling. The temperature in a low-$β$ disk is lower than that in an ADAF/RIAF but higher than that in a standard disk. We also study the radial dependence of the thermal equilibrium solutions.
The optically thin, low-$β$ branch extends to $ \dot M \gtrsim 0.1 {\dot M}_{\rm Edd}$, in which the temperature anti-correlates with the mass accretion rate. Thus optically thin low-$β$ disks can explain the bright hard state. Optically thick, low-$β$ disks have the radial dependence of the effective temperature $T_{\rm eff} \propto \varpi^{-3/4}$. Such disks will be observed as staying in a high/soft state. Furthermore, limit cycle oscillations between an optically thick low-$β$ disk and a slim disk will occur because the optically thick low-$β$ branch intersects with the radiation pressure dominated standard disk branch. These limit cycle oscillations will show a smaller luminosity variation than that between a standard disk and a slim disk.
This paper is devoted to self-consistent modeling of the magnetically supported accretion disk with optically thick warm corona based on first principles. In our model, we consider the gas heating by magneto-rotational instability (MRI) dynamo. Our goal is to show that the proper calculation of the gas heating by magnetic dynamo can build up the warm, optically thick corona above the accretion disk around black hole of stellar mass. Using vertical model of the disk supported and heated by the magnetic field together with radiative transfer in hydrostatic and radiative equilibrium we developed …
We investigate the global structure of the advection dominated accretion flow around a Schwarzschild black hole where the accretion disc is threaded by toroidal magnetic fields. We consider synchrotron radiative process as an effective cooling mechanism active in the flow. With this, we obtain the global transonic accretion solutions by exploring the variety of boundary conditions and dissipation parameters, namely accretion rate (${\dot m}$) and viscosity ($α_B$). The fact that depending on the initial parameters, steady state accretion flows can possess centrifugally supported shock waves. T…
Relaxation of magnetically-confined mountains on accreting neutron stars through cross-field mass transport
School of Physics, University of Melbourne(墨尔本大学物理学院);ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav), University of Melbourne(引力波发现卓越研究中心(OzGrav),墨尔本大学);Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades, Universidade de São Paulo(圣保罗大学艺术、科学与人文学院)
A magnetically confined mountain on the surface of an accreting neutron star simultaneously reduces the global magnetic dipole moment through magnetic burial and generates a mass quadrupole moment, which emits gravitational radiation. Previous mountain models have been calculated for idealized isothermal and adiabatic equations of state. Here these models are generalised to include non-zero, finite thermal conduction. Grad-Shafranov equilibria for three representative, polytropic equations of state are evolved over many conduction time-scales with the magnetohydrodynamic solver PLUTO. It is sh…
A magnetically-supported disk-corona model for Changing-Look AGN transitions
Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center, Polish Academy of Sciences(尼古拉·哥白尼天文学中心,波兰科学院);Research Center for Computational Physics and Data Processing, Institute of Physics, Silesian University in Opava(西里西亚奥帕瓦大学物理研究所计算物理与数据处理研究中心);Center for Theoretical Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences(波兰科学院理论物理中心);Space Research Centre, Polish Academy of Sciences(波兰科学院空间研究中心)
Recent observations of SgrA* by the GRAVITY instrument have astrometrically tracked infrared flares (IR) at distances of $\sim 10$ gravitational radii ($r_g$). In this paper, we study a model for the flares based on 3D general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations of magnetically arrested accretion disks (MADs) which exhibit violent episodes of flux escape from the black hole magnetosphere. These events are attractive for flare modeling for several reasons: i) the magnetically dominant regions can resist being disrupted via magneto-rotational turbulence and shear, ii) the orient…
It is commonly believed that neutron stars exceeding the maximum mass limit for stability could be formed in the aftermath of binary neutron star mergers, enjoying a short life of metastability before losing centrifugal support and collapsing to a black hole. It is suggested here that a similar scenario could take place when the remnant's excess mass is supported by an ultra-strong $(\gtrsim 10^{17}\,\mbox{G})$ magnetic field that could be generated during, and shortly after, coalescence. We show that such 'magnetically supramassive' neutron stars could stave off collapse and survive for a few…
Rapid, large amplitude variability at optical to X-ray wavelengths is now seen in an increasing number of Seyfert galaxies and luminous quasars. The variations imply a global change in accretion power, but are too rapid to be communicated by inflow through a standard thin accretion disc. Such discs are long known to have difficulty explaining the observed optical/UV emission from active galactic nuclei. Here we show that alternative models developed to explain these observations have larger scale heights and shorter inflow times. Accretion discs supported by magnetic pressure in particular are…
A major uncertainty in the structure and dynamics of magnetized, radiation pressure dominated neutron star accretion columns in X-ray pulsars and pulsating ultraluminous X-ray sources is that they are thought to be subject to the photon bubble instability. We present the results of two dimensional radiation relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of a non-accreting, static atmosphere to study the development of this instability assuming isotropic Thomson scattering in the slow diffusion regime that is relevant to neutron star accretion columns. Photon bubbles generally grow faster toward …
We propose that the accretion disks fueling active galactic nuclei are supported vertically against gravity by a strong toroidal ($ϕ-$direction) magnetic field that develops naturally as the result of an accretion disk dynamo. The magnetic pressure elevates most of the gas carrying the accretion flow at $R$ to large heights $z > 0.1 R$ and low densities, while leaving a thin dense layer containing most of the mass --- but contributing very little accretion --- around the equator. We show that such a disk model leads naturally to the formation of a broad emission line region through thermal ins…
In the presence of a strong magnetic field a stellar equilibrium configuration, aided by the Lorentz force, can support a larger mass than a non-magnetic one. This has been considered a possible explanation of the super-Chandrasekhar mass white dwarfs giving rise to over-luminous Type-Ia supernovae. We present here linear and non-linear perturbation studies of such strongly magetised configurations and show that axisymmetric configurations with poloidal or toroidal fields are unstable. The numerical evolution of the perturbations shows instability after about an Alfvén crossing time. This time…
Magnetic reconnection is a ubiquitous astrophysical process that rapidly converts magnetic energy into some combination of plasma flow energy, thermal energy, and non-thermal energetic particles, including energetic electrons. Various reconnection acceleration mechanisms in different low-$β$ (plasma-to-magnetic pressure ratio) and collisionless environments have been proposed theoretically and studied numerically, including first- and second-order Fermi acceleration, betatron acceleration, parallel electric field acceleration along magnetic fields, and direct acceleration by the reconnection e…
We compute static equilibria of white dwarf stars containing strong poloidal magnetic field, and present the modification of white dwarf mass-radius relation caused by the magnetic field. We find that a maximum white dwarf mass of about $1.9$~$M\odot$ may be supported if the interior field is as strong as approximately $10^{10}$ T. This mass is over 30 per cent larger than the traditional Chandrasekhar Limit. The equation of state of electron degenerate matter can be strongly modified due to Landau quantization at such high magnetic fields. We find, however, that this does not significantly af…