Viscous-resistive ADAF with a general large-scale magnetic field

We have studied the structure of hot accretion flow bathed in a general large-scale magnetic field. We have considered magnetic parameters , where are the Alfvén sound speeds in three direction of cylindrical coordinate (r,φ,z). The dominant mechanism of energy dissipation is assumed to be the magnetic diffusivity due to turbulence and viscosity in the accretion flow. Also, we adopt a more realistic model for kinematic viscosity (ν=αc _s H), with both c _s and H as a function of magnetic field. As a result in our model, the kinematic viscosity and magnetic diffusivity (η=η ₀ c _s H) are not constant. In order to solve the integrated equations that govern the behavior of the accretion flow, a self-similar method is used. It is found that the existence of magnetic resistivity will increase the radial infall velocity as well as sound speed and vertical thickness of the disk. However the rotational velocity of the disk decreases by the increase of magnetic resistivity. Moreover, we study the effect of three components of global magnetic field on the structure of the disk. We found out that the radial velocity and sound speed are Sub-Keplerian for all values of magnetic field parameters, but the rotational velocity can be Super-Keplerian by the increase of toroidal magnetic field. Also, Our numerical results show that all components of magnetic field can be important and have a considerable effect on velocities and vertical thickness of the disk.     

Hot accretion flow with ordered magnetic field, outflow, and saturated conduction

The importance of thermal conduction on hot accretion flow is confirmed by observations of hot gas that surrounds Sgr A^? and a few other nearby galactic nuclei. On the other hand, the existence of outflow in accretion flows is confirmed by observations and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations. In this research, we study the influence of both thermal conduction and outflow on hot accretion flows with ordered magnetic field. Since the inner regions of hot accretion flows are, in many cases, collisionless with an electron mean free path due to Coulomb collision larger than the radius, we use a saturated form of thermal conduction, as is appropriate for weakly collisional systems. We also consider the influence of outflow on accretion flow as a sink for mass, and the radial and the angular momentum, and energy taken away from or deposited into the inflow by outflow. The magnetic field is assumed to have a toroidal component and a vertical component as well as a stochastic component. We use a radially self-similar method to solve the integrated equations that govern the behavior of such accretion flows. The solutions show that with an ordered magnetic field, both the surface density and the sound speed decrease, while the radial and angular velocities increase. We found that a hot accretion flow with thermal conduction rotates more quickly and accretes more slowly than that without thermal conduction. Moreover, thermal conduction reduces the influences of the ordered magnetic field on the angular velocities and the sound speed. The study of this model with the magnitude of outflow parameters implies that the gas temperature decreases due to mass, angular momentum, and energy loss. This property of outflow decreases for high thermal conduction.     

Self-similar solution of hot accretion flows with ordered magnetic field and outflow

Observations and numerical magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations indicate the existence of outflows and ordered large-scale magnetic fields in the inner region of hot accretion flows. In this paper, we present the self-similar solutions for advection-dominated accretion flows (ADAFs) with outflows and ordered magnetic fields. Stimulated by numerical simulations, we assume that the magnetic field has a strong toroidal component and a vertical component in addition to a stochastic component. We obtain the self-similar solutions to the equations describing the magnetized ADAFs, taking into account the dynamical effects of the outflow. We compare the results with the canonical ADAFs and find that the dynamical properties of ADAFs such as radial velocity, angular velocity and temperature can be significantly changed in the presence of ordered magnetic fields and outflows. The stronger the magnetic field is, the lower the temperature of the accretion flow will be and the faster the flow rotates. The relevance to observations is briefly discussed.     

Hot accretion with outflow and thermal conduction

We present self-similar solutions for advection-dominated accretion flows with thermal conduction in the presence of outflows. Possible effects of outflows on the accretion flow are parametrized and a saturated form of thermal conduction, as is appropriate for the weakly-collisional regime of interest, is included in our model. While the cooling effect of outflows is noticeable, thermal conduction provides an extra heating source. In comparison to accretion flows without winds, we show that the disc rotates faster and becomes cooler because of the angular momentum and energy flux which are taking away by the winds. But thermal conduction opposes the effects of winds and not only decreases the rotational velocity, but increases the temperature. However, reduction of the surface density and the enhanced accretion velocity are amplified by both of the winds and the thermal conduction. We find that for stronger outflows, a higher level of saturated thermal conduction is needed to significantly modify the physical profiles of the accretion flow.     

Magnetic field dragging and the vertical structure of thin accretion discs

The presence of an imposed vertical magnetic field may drastically influence the structure of thin accretion discs. If the field is sufficiently strong, the rotation law can depart from the Keplerian one. We consider the structure of a disc for a given eddy magnetic diffusivity but neglect details of the energy transport. The magnetic field is assumed to be in balance with the internal energy of the accretion flow. The thickness of the disc as well as the turbulent magnetic Prandtl number and the viscosity, α , are the key parameters of our model. The calculations show that the radial velocity can reach the sound speed for a magnetic disc if the thickness is comparable to that of a non-magnetic one. This leads to a strong amplification of the accretion rate for a given surface density. The inclination angle of the magnetic field lines can exceed the critical value 30° (required to launch cold jets) even for a relatively small magnetic Prandtl number of order unity. The toroidal magnetic fields induced at the disc surface are smaller than predicted in previous studies.     

Effects of finite resistivity on magnetorotational instabilities in a realistic accretion flow

A local perturbation analysis is performed on a realistic background accretion flow in a global magnetic field. The adopted background model is an analytic solution to the resistive MHD equations and describes magnetically-controlled advection-dominated accretion flows (ADAFs) with an accuracy to the first order in the resistive corrections. The results show that there are three independent wave modes, which may be called the Rayleigh, Balbus–Hawley and resistive modes. Within our resistive-MHD corrections to the ideal-MHD limit, a Balbus–Hawley-like criterion for the instability of axisymmetric perturbations appears as a consequence of the competition between damping due to magnetic diffusion and excitation due to shear flow. As for non-axisymmetric perturbations, the former two modes are likely to be unstable in the presence of shears because the magnetic diffusion acts as a stabilizer only to axisymmetric perturbations within our approximation.     

The effects of thermal conduction on the ADAF with a toroidal magnetic field

The observation of the hot gas surrounding Sgr A * and a few other nearby galactic nuclei imply that electron and proton mean free paths are comparable to the gas capture radius. So, the hot accretion flows are likely to proceed under week-collision conditions. Hence, thermal conduction has been suggested as a possible mechanism by which the sufficient extra heating is provided in hot advection-dominated accretion flow (ADAF) accretion discs. We consider the effects of thermal conduction in the presence of a toroidal magnetic field in an ADAF around a compact object. For a steady-state structure of such accretion flows, a set of self-similar solutions are presented. We find two types of solutions which represent high and slow accretion rate. They have different behaviours with saturated thermal conduction parameter, φ.     

Low-Luminosity Accretion in Black Hole X-Ray Binaries and Active Galactic Nuclei

At luminosities below a few percent of Eddington, accreting black holes switch to a hard spectral state which is very different from the soft blackbody-like spectral state that is found at higher luminosities. The hard state is well-described by a two-temperature, optically thin, geometrically thick, advection-dominated accretion flow (ADAF) in which the ions are extremely hot (up to 10¹² K near the black hole), the electrons are also hot (∼10^9−10.5 K), and thermal Comptonization dominates the X-ray emission. The radiative efficiency of an ADAF decreases rapidly with decreasing mass accretion rate, becoming extremely low when a source reaches quiescence. ADAFs are expected to have strong outflows, which may explain why relativistic jets are often inferred from the radio emission of these sources. It has been suggested that most of the X-ray emission also comes from a jet, but this is less well established.     

Radiation spectrum of a magnetized supercritical accretion disc with thermal conduction

we examine the effect of thermal conduction on the observational properties of a super critical hot magnetized flow. We obtained self-similar solution of a magnetized disc when the thermal conduction plays an important role. Follow of our first paper (Ghasemnezhad et al. in Astrophys. J. 750, 2012 (hereafter GKA12)) we have extended our solution on the observational appearance of the disc to show how physical condition such as thermal conduction, viscosity, and advection will change the observed luminosity of the disc, Continuous spectra and surface temperature of such discs was plotted. We apply the present model to black-hole X-ray binary LMC X-3 and narrow-line seyfert 1 galaxies, which are supposed to be under critical accretion rate. Our results show clearly that the surface temperature is strongly depends on the thermal conduction, the magnetic field and advection parameter. However we see that thermal conduction acts to oppose the temperature gradient as we expect and observed luminosity of the disc will reduce when thermal conduction is high. We have shown that in this model the spectra of critical accretion flows strongly depends on the inclination angle.     

Magnetic star-disk interaction in classical T Tauri systems

We simulate the impact of a dipolar stellar magnetic field rooted in a classical T Tauri star on the accretion disk and the halo above using a 2.5D finite difference code. The gas is assumed resistive, and inside the disk accretion is driven by a Shakura-Sunyaev-type eddy viscosity. The rotational shear between the star and the Keplerian disk causes the magnetic field to be wound up and stretched outwards, away from the star. Part of the field lines open and an outflow is launched. Direct disk disruption by the Lorentz force only occurs for sufficient field strength. For our model system with a solar-mass central star, an accretion rate of 10^-7M⊙/a, and a viscosity parameter α_SS=0.01, a field strength of 1 kG, measured at the poles on the surface of the star, was found insufficient for disk disruption.     

Models for jet power in elliptical galaxies: a case for rapidly spinning black holes

The power of jets from black holes is expected to depend on both the spin of the black hole and the structure of the accretion disc in the region of the last stable orbit. We investigate these dependencies using two different physical models for the jet power: the classical Blandford–Znajek (BZ) model and a hybrid model developed by Meier. In the BZ case, the jets are powered by magnetic fields directly threading the spinning black hole while in the hybrid model, the jet energy is extracted from both the accretion disc as well as the black hole via magnetic fields anchored to the accretion flow inside and outside the hole's ergosphere. The hybrid model takes advantage of the strengths of both the Blandford–Payne and BZ mechanisms, while avoiding the more controversial features of the latter. We develop these models more fully to account for general relativistic effects and to focus on advection-dominated accretion flows (ADAFs) for which the jet power is expected to be a significant fraction of the accreted rest mass energy.
We apply the models to elliptical galaxies, in order to see if these models can explain the observed correlation between the Bondi accretion rates and the total jet powers. For typical values of the disc viscosity parameter  α∼ 0.04 –0.3  and mass accretion rates consistent with ADAF model expectations, we find that the observed correlation requires   j ≳ 0.9  ; that is, it implies that the black holes are rapidly spinning. Our results suggest that the central black holes in the cores of clusters of galaxies must be rapidly rotating in order to drive jets powerful enough to heat the intracluster medium and quench cooling flows.     

On the absence of winds in advection-dominated accretion flows

We show that recently published assertions that advection-dominated accretion flows (ADAFs) require the presence of strong winds are unfounded because they assume that low radiative efficiency in flows accreting at low rates on to black holes implies vanishing radial energy and angular momentum fluxes through the flow (which is also formulated in terms of the 'Bernoulli function' being positive). This, however, is a property only of self-similar solutions which are an inadequate representation of global accretion flows. We recall general properties of accretion flows on to black holes and show that such, necessarily transonic, flows may have either d positive or negative Bernoulli function depending on the flow viscosity. Flows with low viscosities ( α ≲0.1 in the α -viscosity model) have a negative Bernoulli function. Without exception, all 2D and 1D numerical models of low-viscosity flows constructed to date experience no significant outflows. At high viscosities the presence of outflows depends on the assumed viscosity, on the equation of state and on the outer boundary condition. The positive sign of the Bernoulli function invoked in this context is irrelevant to the presence of outflows. As an illustration, we recall 2D numerical models with moderate viscosity that have positive values of the Bernoulli function and experience no outflows. ADAFs, therefore, do not differ from this point of view from thin Keplerian discs: they may have, but they do not have to have, strong winds.     

Two-flow magnetohydrodynamical jets around young stellar objects

We present the first-ever simulations of non-ideal magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) stellar winds coupled with disc-driven jets where the resistive and viscous accretion disc is self-consistently described. The transmagnetosonic, collimated MHD outflows are investigated numerically using the VAC code. Our simulations show that the inner outflow is accelerated from the central object hot corona thanks to both the thermal pressure and the Lorentz force. In our framework, the thermal acceleration is sustained by the heating produced by the dissipated magnetic energy due to the turbulence. Conversely, the outflow launched from the resistive accretion disc is mainly accelerated by the magneto-centrifugal force. We also show that when a dense inner stellar wind occurs, the resulting disc-driven jet have a different structure, namely a magnetic structure where poloidal magnetic field lines are more inclined because of the pressure caused by the stellar wind. This modification leads to both an enhanced mass ejection rate in the disc-driven jet and a larger radial extension which is in better agreement with the observations besides being more consistent.     

Modeling Magnetic Tower Jets in the Laboratory

The twisting of magnetic fields threading an accretion system can lead to the generation on axis of toroidal field loops. As the magnetic pressure increases, the toroidal field inflates, producing a flow. Collimation is due to a background corona, which radially confines this axially growing “magnetic tower”. We investigate the possibility of studying in the laboratory the dynamics, confinement and stability of magnetic tower jets. We present two-dimensional resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulations of radial arrays, which consist of two concentric electrodes connected radially by thin metallic wires. In the laboratory, a radial wire array is driven by a 1 MA current which produces a hot, low density background plasma. During the current discharge a low plasma beta (β < 1), magnetic cavity develops in the background plasma (β is the ratio of thermal to magnetic pressure). This laboratory magnetic tower is driven by the magnetic pressure of the toroidal field and it is surrounded by a shock envelope. On axis, a high density column is produced by the pinch effect. The background plasma has >rsim1, and in the radial direction the magnetic tower is confined mostly by the thermal pressure. In contrast, in the axial direction the pressure rapidly decays and an elongated, well collimated magnetic-jet develops. This is later disrupted by the development of m = 0 instabilities arising in the axial column.     

Magnetic Star-Disk Interaction in Classical T Tauri Stars

We carry out 2.5D MHD simulations to study the interaction between a dipolar magnetic field of a T Tauri Star, a circumstellar accretion disk, and the halo above the disk. The initial disk is the result of 1D radiation hydrodynamics computations with opacities appropriate for low temperatures. The gas is assumed resistive, and inside the disk accretion is driven by a Shakura–Sunyaev-type eddy viscosity. Magnetocentrifugal forces due to the rotational shear between the star and the Keplerian disk cause the magnetic field to be stretched outwards and part of the field lines are opened. For a solar-mass central star and an accretion rate of 10^?8 solar masses per year a field strength of 100 G (measured on the surface of the star) launches a substantial outflow from the inner parts of the disk. For a field strength of 1 kG the inner parts of disk is disrupted. The truncation of the disk turns out to be temporary, but the magnetic field structure remains changed after the disk is rebuilt.     

The role of toroidal magnetic field in the stability of accretion disks with alpha viscosity and other viscosities

The standard thin accretion disk model predicts that the inner regions of alpha model disks, where radiation pressure is dominant, are thermally and viscously unstable. However, observations show that the bright X-ray binaries and AGN accretion disks, corresponding to radiation-pressure thin disks, are stable. In this paper, we reconsider the linear and local instability of accretion disks in the presence of a toroidal magnetic field. In the basic equations, we consider physical quantities such as advection, thermal conduction, arbitrary viscosity, and an arbitrary cooling function also. A fifth order diffusion equation is obtained and is solved numerically. The solutions are compared to non-magnetic cases. The results show that the toroidal magnetic field can make the thermal instability in radiation pressure-dominated slim disks disappear if ? _m ≥0.3. However, it causes a more thermal instability in radiation pressure alpha disks without advection. Also, we consider the thermal instability in accretion disks with other values of the viscosity and obtain a general criterion for thermal instability in the long-wavelength limit and in the presence of a toroidal magnetic field.     

Resistive and magnetized accretion flows with convection

We considered the effects of convection on the radiatively inefficient accretion flows (RIAF) in the presence of resistivity and toroidal magnetic field. We discussed the effects of convection on transports of angular momentum and energy. We established two cases for the resistive and magnetized RIAFs with convection: assuming the convection parameter as a free parameter and using mixing-length theory to calculate convection parameter. A self-similar method is used to solve the integrated equations that govern the behavior of the presented model. The solutions show that the accretion and rotational velocities decrease by adding the convection parameter, while the sound speed increases. Moreover, by using mixing-length theory to calculate convection parameter, we found that the convection can be important in RIAFs with magnetic field and resistivity.     

Simulation of the Magnetothermal Instability

In many magnetized, dilute astrophysical plasmas, thermal conduction occurs almost exclusively parallel to magnetic field lines. In this case, the usual stability criterion for convective stability, the Schwarzschild criterion, which depends on entropy gradients, is modified. In the magnetized long mean free path regime, instability occurs for small wavenumbers when (∂ P/∂z) (∂ ln T/∂ z) > 0, which we refer to as the Balbus criterion. We refer to the convective-type instability that results as the magnetothermal instability (MTI). We use the equations of MHD with anisotropic electron heat conduction to numerically simulate the linear growth and nonlinear saturation of the MTI in plane-parallel atmospheres that are unstable according to the Balbus criterion. The linear growth rates measured from the simulations are in excellent agreement with the weak field dispersion relation. The addition of isotropic conduction, e.g. radiation, or strong magnetic fields can damp the growth of the MTI and affect the nonlinear regime. The instability saturates when the atmosphere becomes isothermal as the source of free energy is exhausted. By maintaining a fixed temperature difference between the top and bottom boundaries of the simulation domain, sustained convective turbulence can be driven. MTI-stable layers introduced by isotropic conduction are used to prevent the formation of unresolved, thermal boundary layers. We find that the largest component of the time-averaged heat flux is due to advective motions as opposed to the actual thermal conduction itself. Finally, we explore the implications of this instability for a variety of astrophysical systems, such as neutron stars, the hot intracluster medium of galaxy clusters, and the structure of radiatively inefficient accretion flows. J. M. Stone: Program in Applied and Computational Mathematics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544