Radiation and Magnetic Pressure Support in Accretion Disks around Supermassive Black Holes and The Physical Origin of the Extreme Ultraviolet to Soft X-ray Spectrum

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Jiang, Yan-Fei, Blaes, Omer, Kaul, Ish, Zhang, Lizhong
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author Jiang, Yan-Fei
Blaes, Omer
Kaul, Ish
Zhang, Lizhong
author_facet Jiang, Yan-Fei
Blaes, Omer
Kaul, Ish
Zhang, Lizhong
contents We present the results of four three-dimensional radiation magnetohydrodynamic simulations of accretion disks around a $10^8$ solar mass black hole, which produce the far ultraviolet spectrum peak and demonstrate a robust physical mechanism to produce the extreme ultraviolet to soft X-ray power-law continuum component. The disks are fed from rotating tori and reach accretion rates ranging from $0.03$ to $4$ times the Eddington value. The disks become radiation pressure or magnetic pressure dominated depending on the relative timescales of radiative cooling and gas inflow. Magnetic pressure supported disks can form with or without net poloidal magnetic fields as long as the inflowing gas can cool quickly enough, which can typically happen when the accretion rate is low. We calculate the emerging spectra from these disks using multi-group radiation transport with realistic opacities and find that they typically peak around $10$ eV. At accretion rates close to or above the Eddington limit, a power-law component can appear for photon energies between $10$ eV and 1 keV with a spectral slope varying between $L_ν\proptoν^{-1}$ and $ν^{-2}$, comparable to what is observed in radio quiet quasars. The disk with $3\%$ Eddington accretion rate does not exhibit this component. These high energy photons are produced in an optically thick region $\approx 30^{\circ}-45^{\circ}$ from the disk midplane by compressible bulk Comptonization within the converging accretion flow. Strongly magnetized disks that have a very small surface density will produce a spectrum that is very different from what is observed.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_09671
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Radiation and Magnetic Pressure Support in Accretion Disks around Supermassive Black Holes and The Physical Origin of the Extreme Ultraviolet to Soft X-ray Spectrum
Jiang, Yan-Fei
Blaes, Omer
Kaul, Ish
Zhang, Lizhong
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
We present the results of four three-dimensional radiation magnetohydrodynamic simulations of accretion disks around a $10^8$ solar mass black hole, which produce the far ultraviolet spectrum peak and demonstrate a robust physical mechanism to produce the extreme ultraviolet to soft X-ray power-law continuum component. The disks are fed from rotating tori and reach accretion rates ranging from $0.03$ to $4$ times the Eddington value. The disks become radiation pressure or magnetic pressure dominated depending on the relative timescales of radiative cooling and gas inflow. Magnetic pressure supported disks can form with or without net poloidal magnetic fields as long as the inflowing gas can cool quickly enough, which can typically happen when the accretion rate is low. We calculate the emerging spectra from these disks using multi-group radiation transport with realistic opacities and find that they typically peak around $10$ eV. At accretion rates close to or above the Eddington limit, a power-law component can appear for photon energies between $10$ eV and 1 keV with a spectral slope varying between $L_ν\proptoν^{-1}$ and $ν^{-2}$, comparable to what is observed in radio quiet quasars. The disk with $3\%$ Eddington accretion rate does not exhibit this component. These high energy photons are produced in an optically thick region $\approx 30^{\circ}-45^{\circ}$ from the disk midplane by compressible bulk Comptonization within the converging accretion flow. Strongly magnetized disks that have a very small surface density will produce a spectrum that is very different from what is observed.
title Radiation and Magnetic Pressure Support in Accretion Disks around Supermassive Black Holes and The Physical Origin of the Extreme Ultraviolet to Soft X-ray Spectrum
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.09671