FORGE'd in FIRE II: The Formation of Magnetically-Dominated Quasar Accretion Disks from Cosmological Initial Conditions

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hopkins, Philip F., Squire, Jonathan, Su, Kung-Yi, Steinwandel, Ulrich P., Kremer, Kyle, Shi, Yanlong, Grudic, Michael Y., Wellons, Sarah, Faucher-Giguere, Claude-Andre, Angles-Alcazar, Daniel, Murray, Norman, Quataert, Eliot
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866909969895391232
author Hopkins, Philip F.
Squire, Jonathan
Su, Kung-Yi
Steinwandel, Ulrich P.
Kremer, Kyle
Shi, Yanlong
Grudic, Michael Y.
Wellons, Sarah
Faucher-Giguere, Claude-Andre
Angles-Alcazar, Daniel
Murray, Norman
Quataert, Eliot
author_facet Hopkins, Philip F.
Squire, Jonathan
Su, Kung-Yi
Steinwandel, Ulrich P.
Kremer, Kyle
Shi, Yanlong
Grudic, Michael Y.
Wellons, Sarah
Faucher-Giguere, Claude-Andre
Angles-Alcazar, Daniel
Murray, Norman
Quataert, Eliot
contents In a companion paper, we reported the self-consistent formation of quasar accretion disks with inflow rates $\sim 10\,{\rm M_{\odot}\,yr^{-1}}$ down to <300 Schwarzschild radii from cosmological radiation-magneto-thermochemical-hydrodynamical galaxy and star formation simulations. We see the formation of a well-defined, steady-state accretion disk which is stable against star formation at sub-pc scales. The disks are optically thick, with radiative cooling balancing accretion, but with properties that are distinct from those assumed in most previous accretion disk models. The pressure is strongly dominated by (primarily toroidal) magnetic fields, with a plasma $β\sim 10^{-4}$ even in the disk midplane. They are qualitatively distinct from magnetically elevated or arrested disks. The disks are strongly turbulent, with trans-Alfvenic and highly super-sonic turbulence, and balance this via a cooling time that is short compared to the disk dynamical time, and can sustain highly super-Eddington accretion rates. Their surface and 3D densities at $\sim 10^{3}-10^{5}$ gravitational radii are much lower than in a Shakura-Sunyaev disk, with important implications for their thermo-chemistry and stability. We show how the magnetic field strengths and geometries arise from rapid advection of flux with the inflow from much weaker galaxy-scale fields in these 'flux-frozen' disks, and how this stabilizes the disk and gives rise to efficient torques. Re-simulating without magnetic fields produces catastrophic fragmentation with a vastly smaller, lower-$\dot{M}$ Shakura-Sunyaev-like disk.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2310_04506
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle FORGE'd in FIRE II: The Formation of Magnetically-Dominated Quasar Accretion Disks from Cosmological Initial Conditions
Hopkins, Philip F.
Squire, Jonathan
Su, Kung-Yi
Steinwandel, Ulrich P.
Kremer, Kyle
Shi, Yanlong
Grudic, Michael Y.
Wellons, Sarah
Faucher-Giguere, Claude-Andre
Angles-Alcazar, Daniel
Murray, Norman
Quataert, Eliot
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Plasma Physics
Space Physics
In a companion paper, we reported the self-consistent formation of quasar accretion disks with inflow rates $\sim 10\,{\rm M_{\odot}\,yr^{-1}}$ down to <300 Schwarzschild radii from cosmological radiation-magneto-thermochemical-hydrodynamical galaxy and star formation simulations. We see the formation of a well-defined, steady-state accretion disk which is stable against star formation at sub-pc scales. The disks are optically thick, with radiative cooling balancing accretion, but with properties that are distinct from those assumed in most previous accretion disk models. The pressure is strongly dominated by (primarily toroidal) magnetic fields, with a plasma $β\sim 10^{-4}$ even in the disk midplane. They are qualitatively distinct from magnetically elevated or arrested disks. The disks are strongly turbulent, with trans-Alfvenic and highly super-sonic turbulence, and balance this via a cooling time that is short compared to the disk dynamical time, and can sustain highly super-Eddington accretion rates. Their surface and 3D densities at $\sim 10^{3}-10^{5}$ gravitational radii are much lower than in a Shakura-Sunyaev disk, with important implications for their thermo-chemistry and stability. We show how the magnetic field strengths and geometries arise from rapid advection of flux with the inflow from much weaker galaxy-scale fields in these 'flux-frozen' disks, and how this stabilizes the disk and gives rise to efficient torques. Re-simulating without magnetic fields produces catastrophic fragmentation with a vastly smaller, lower-$\dot{M}$ Shakura-Sunyaev-like disk.
title FORGE'd in FIRE II: The Formation of Magnetically-Dominated Quasar Accretion Disks from Cosmological Initial Conditions
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Plasma Physics
Space Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.04506