Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Stanway, Joshua Samuel, Prather, Cora, Ward-Thompson, Derek, Walton, Timothy J., Patterson, Brett, Cho, Hyerin
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.27334
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866911721314058240
author Stanway, Joshua Samuel
Prather, Cora
Ward-Thompson, Derek
Walton, Timothy J.
Patterson, Brett
Cho, Hyerin
author_facet Stanway, Joshua Samuel
Prather, Cora
Ward-Thompson, Derek
Walton, Timothy J.
Patterson, Brett
Cho, Hyerin
contents In this paper, we carry out a numerical study of misaligned accretion disks around spinning supermassive black holes. Here, we conduct a parameter survey covering a range of initial disk misalignment angles ($\mathcal{T}_\mathrm{init}=15^\circ, 45^\circ, 75^\circ$) with either the Magnetically Arrested Disk (MAD) or Standard And Normal Evolution (SANE) magnetic field configurations, using the general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) code KHARMA. We find that models in the MAD state can align with the black hole up to $\sim10 \, r_g$, even in extremely misaligned models ($\mathcal{T}_\mathrm{init}=75^\circ$), which has not been seen before. Models without a dynamically important magnetic field remain misaligned up to the black hole, with a maximum disk tilt at $\sim10 \, r_g$, the peak's radial distance from the black hole increases with increasing disk misalignment. However, the maximum disk tilt does not have a linear relationship with the initial disk misalignment, and appears to have a maximum value of $\sim50^\circ$. We also show misaligned disk simulations produced in KHARMA are consistent with other GRMHD codes, for a variety of problems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_27334
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Supermassive Black Holes: modelling strongly and weakly magnetised misaligned accretion disks
Stanway, Joshua Samuel
Prather, Cora
Ward-Thompson, Derek
Walton, Timothy J.
Patterson, Brett
Cho, Hyerin
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
In this paper, we carry out a numerical study of misaligned accretion disks around spinning supermassive black holes. Here, we conduct a parameter survey covering a range of initial disk misalignment angles ($\mathcal{T}_\mathrm{init}=15^\circ, 45^\circ, 75^\circ$) with either the Magnetically Arrested Disk (MAD) or Standard And Normal Evolution (SANE) magnetic field configurations, using the general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) code KHARMA. We find that models in the MAD state can align with the black hole up to $\sim10 \, r_g$, even in extremely misaligned models ($\mathcal{T}_\mathrm{init}=75^\circ$), which has not been seen before. Models without a dynamically important magnetic field remain misaligned up to the black hole, with a maximum disk tilt at $\sim10 \, r_g$, the peak's radial distance from the black hole increases with increasing disk misalignment. However, the maximum disk tilt does not have a linear relationship with the initial disk misalignment, and appears to have a maximum value of $\sim50^\circ$. We also show misaligned disk simulations produced in KHARMA are consistent with other GRMHD codes, for a variety of problems.
title Supermassive Black Holes: modelling strongly and weakly magnetised misaligned accretion disks
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.27334