Eccentric Accretion Disks in Active Galactic Nuclei

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteur principal: Deng, Hongping
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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author Deng, Hongping
author_facet Deng, Hongping
contents We report that moderately eccentric flows around supermassive black holes (SMBHs), formed via either circumnuclear gas accretion or tidal disruption events, generate eccentricity cascades (from >0.8 to 0.2 outward), explaining multiwavelength emission and variability in active galactic nuclei (AGNs). The flows' non-axisymmetric temperature structure explains non-axisymmetric dust sublimation fronts, distinct broad emission-line components, and their radial motions. The innermost broad-line region (BLR) links to the SMBH vicinity through highly eccentric streams that produce soft X-rays at periapsis. General relativistic precession further compresses these flows, generating a hard X-ray continuum near the SMBH. Precession of the eccentric flow drives optical/X-ray variability, reproducing the observed X-ray power spectral density and occasional X- ray quasi-periodic eruptions. We thus propose eccentric accretion disks as a physical AGN model that unifies the elusive BLRs and X-ray corona. This model will enable detailed anatomy of AGNs and maximize their potential as cosmological standard candles.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_09578
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Eccentric Accretion Disks in Active Galactic Nuclei
Deng, Hongping
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
We report that moderately eccentric flows around supermassive black holes (SMBHs), formed via either circumnuclear gas accretion or tidal disruption events, generate eccentricity cascades (from >0.8 to 0.2 outward), explaining multiwavelength emission and variability in active galactic nuclei (AGNs). The flows' non-axisymmetric temperature structure explains non-axisymmetric dust sublimation fronts, distinct broad emission-line components, and their radial motions. The innermost broad-line region (BLR) links to the SMBH vicinity through highly eccentric streams that produce soft X-rays at periapsis. General relativistic precession further compresses these flows, generating a hard X-ray continuum near the SMBH. Precession of the eccentric flow drives optical/X-ray variability, reproducing the observed X-ray power spectral density and occasional X- ray quasi-periodic eruptions. We thus propose eccentric accretion disks as a physical AGN model that unifies the elusive BLRs and X-ray corona. This model will enable detailed anatomy of AGNs and maximize their potential as cosmological standard candles.
title Eccentric Accretion Disks in Active Galactic Nuclei
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.09578