Magnetorotational turbulence provides a viable mechanism for angular momentum transport in accretion disks. We present global, three dimensional (3D), MHD accretion disk simulations that investigate the dependence of the turbulent stresses on resolution. Convergence in the time-and-volume-averaged stress-to-gas-pressure ratio, at a value of $\sim0.04$, is found for a model with radial, vertical, and azimuthal resolution of 12-51, 27, and 12.5 cells per scale-height (the simulation mesh is such that cells per scale-height varies in the radial direction). A control volume analysis is performed on the main body of the disk (|z|<2H) to examine the production and removal of magnetic energy. Maxwell stresses in combination with the mean disk rotation are mainly responsible for magnetic energy production, whereas turbulent dissipation (facilitated by numerical resistivity) predominantly removes magnetic energy from the disk. Re-casting the magnetic energy equation in terms of the power injected by Maxwell stresses on the boundaries of, and by Lorentz forces within, the control volume highlights the importance of the boundary conditions (of the control volume). The different convergence properties of shearing-box and global accretion disk simulations can be readily understood on the basis of choice of boundary conditions and the magnetic field configuration. Periodic boundary conditions restrict the establishment of large-scale gradients in the magnetic field, limiting the power that can be delivered to the disk by Lorentz forces and by stresses at the surfaces. The factor of three lower resolution required for convergence in turbulent stresses for our global disk models compared to stratified shearing-boxes is explained by this finding. (Abridged)
Accretion disc turbulence along with its effect on large-scale magnetic fields plays an important role in understanding disc evolution in general, and the launching of astrophysical jets in particular. Motivated by enabling a comprehensive sub-grid description for global long-term simulations of accretions discs, we aim to further characterize the transport coefficients emerging in local simulations of magnetorotational disc turbulence. For the current investigation, we leverage a time-dependent version of the test-field method, which is sensitive to the turbulent electromotive force (EMF) gen…
Origin of nonlinearity and plausible turbulence by hydromagnetic transient growth in accretion disks: Faster growth rate than magnetorotational instability
Hot accretion flows contain collisionless plasmas that are believed to be capable of accelerating particles to very high energies, as a result of turbulence generated by the magnetorotational instability (MRI). We conduct unstratified shearing-box simulations of the MRI turbulence in ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD), and inject energetic (relativistic) test particles in simulation snapshots to conduct a detailed investigation on particle diffusion and stochastic acceleration. We consider different amount of net vertical magnetic flux to achieve different disk magnetizations levels at saturated …
The theory of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence predicts that Alfvénic and slow-mode-like compressive fluctuations are energetically decoupled at small scales in the inertial range. The partition of energy between these fluctuations determines the nature of dissipation, which, in many astrophysical systems, happens on scales where plasma is collisionless. However, when the magnetorotational instability (MRI) drives the turbulence, it is difficult to resolve numerically the scale at which both types of fluctuations start to be decoupled because the MRI energy injection occurs in a broad rang…
The magnetorotational instability (MRI) is a fundamental mechanism determining the macroscopic dynamics of astrophysical accretion disks. In collisionless accretion flows around supermassive black holes, MRI-driven plasma turbulence cascading to microscopic (i.e. kinetic) scales can result in enhanced angular-momentum transport and redistribution, nonthermal particle acceleration, and a two-temperature state where electrons and ions are heated unequally. However, this microscopic physics cannot be captured with standard magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) approaches typically employed to study the MRI. …
Insufficient numerical resolution of grid-based, direct numerical simulations (DNS) hampers the development of instabilitydriven turbulence at small (unresolved) scales. As an alternative to DNS, sub-grid models can potentially reproduce the effects of turbulence at small scales in terms of the resolved scales, and hence can capture physical effects with less computational resources. We present a new sub-grid model, the MHD-instability-induced-turbulence (MInIT) mean-field model. MInIT is a physically motivated model based on the evolution of the turbulent (Maxwell, Reynolds, and Faraday) stre…
We present a thorough numerical study on the MRI using the smoothed particle magnetohydrodynamics method (SPMHD) with the geometric density average force expression (GDSPH). We perform shearing box simulations with different initial setups and a wide range of resolution and dissipation parameters. We show, for the first time, that MRI with sustained turbulence can be simulated successfully with SPH, with results consistent with prior work with grid-based codes. In particular, for the stratified boxes, our simulations reproduce the characteristic butterfly diagram of the MRI dynamo with saturat…
The evolution of current sheets in accretion flows undergoing magnetorotational instability (MRI) is examined through two and three dimensional numerical modelling of the resistive MHD equations in global cylindrical geometry. With an initial uniform magnetic field aligned in the vertical ($z$) direction, MRI produces radially extended toroidal (azimuthal) current sheets. In both 2D and 3D when axisymmetric modes dominate, these current sheets attract each other and merge in the poloidal ($rz$) plane, driving magnetic reconnection when the Lundquist number $S > 3 \times 10^2$, making it a poss…
The standard magnetorotational instability (SMRI) is a promising mechanism for turbulence and rapid accretion in astrophysical disks. It is a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instability that destabilizes otherwise hydrodynamically stable disk flow. Due to its microscopic nature at astronomical distances and stringent requirements in laboratory experiments, SMRI has remained unconfirmed since its proposal, despite its astrophysical importance. Here we report a nonaxisymmetric MHD instability in a modified Taylor-Couette experiment. To search for SMRI, a uniform magnetic field is imposed along the rot…
Magnetars are highly magnetized neutron stars whose magnetic dipole ranges from $10^{14}$ to $10^{15}$ G. The MRI is considered to be a promising mechanism to amplify the magnetic field in fast-rotating protoneutron stars and form magnetars. This scenario is supported by many local studies showing that magnetic fields could be amplified by the MRI on small scales. However, the efficiency of the MRI at generating a dipole field is still unknown. To answer this question, we study the MRI dynamo in an idealized global model of a fast rotating protoneutron star with differential rotation. We perfo…