Multizone Modeling of Black Hole Accretion and Feedback in 3D GRMHD: Bridging Vast Spatial and Temporal Scales
Simulating accretion and feedback from the horizon scale of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) out to galactic scales is challenging because of the vast range of scales involved. Elaborating on H. Cho et al., we describe and test a “multizone” technique, which is designed to tackle this difficult prob...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2024-01-01
|
| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad9561 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1850106780008316928 |
|---|---|
| author | Hyerin Cho Ben S. Prather Kung-Yi Su Ramesh Narayan Priyamvada Natarajan |
| author_facet | Hyerin Cho Ben S. Prather Kung-Yi Su Ramesh Narayan Priyamvada Natarajan |
| author_sort | Hyerin Cho |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Simulating accretion and feedback from the horizon scale of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) out to galactic scales is challenging because of the vast range of scales involved. Elaborating on H. Cho et al., we describe and test a “multizone” technique, which is designed to tackle this difficult problem in three-dimensional general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations. While short-timescale variability should be interpreted with caution, the method is demonstrated to be well-suited for finding dynamical steady states over a wide dynamic range. We simulate accretion on a nonspinning SMBH ( a _* = 0) using initial conditions and the external galactic potential from a large-scale galaxy simulation and achieve a steady state over eight decades in radius. As found in H. Cho et al., the density scales with radius as ρ ∝ r ^−1 inside the Bondi radius R _B , which is located at R _B = 2 × 10 ^5 r _g (≈60 pc for M87), where r _g is the gravitational radius of the SMBH; the plasma- β is ∼ unity, indicating an extended magnetically arrested state; the mass accretion rate $\dot{M}$ is ≈1% of the analytical Bondi accretion rate ${\dot{M}}_{{\rm{B}}};$ and there is continuous energy feedback out to ≈100 R _B (or beyond > kpc) at a rate $\approx 0.02\dot{M}{c}^{2}$ . Surprisingly, no ordered rotation in the external medium survives as the magnetized gas flows to smaller radii, and the final steady solution is very similar to when the exterior has no rotation. Using the multizone method, we simulate GRMHD accretion over a wide range of Bondi radii, R _B ∼ 10 ^2 −10 ^7 r _g , and find that $\dot{M}/{\dot{M}}_{{B}}\approx {({R}_{{B}}/6\,{r}_{g})}^{-0.5}$ . |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-28c3a5bdacfc46d7b2acdca54e2c074c |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-28c3a5bdacfc46d7b2acdca54e2c074c2025-08-20T02:38:45ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572024-01-01977220010.3847/1538-4357/ad9561Multizone Modeling of Black Hole Accretion and Feedback in 3D GRMHD: Bridging Vast Spatial and Temporal ScalesHyerin Cho0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2858-9481Ben S. Prather1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0393-7734Kung-Yi Su2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1598-0083Ramesh Narayan3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1919-2730Priyamvada Natarajan4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5554-8896Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Black Hole Initiative at Harvard University , 20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USACCS-2, Los Alamos National Laboratory , P.O. Box 1663, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USACenter for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Black Hole Initiative at Harvard University , 20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USACenter for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Black Hole Initiative at Harvard University , 20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USABlack Hole Initiative at Harvard University , 20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Department of Astronomy, Yale University , Kline Tower, 266 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Department of Physics, Yale University , P.O. Box 208121, New Haven, CT 06520, USASimulating accretion and feedback from the horizon scale of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) out to galactic scales is challenging because of the vast range of scales involved. Elaborating on H. Cho et al., we describe and test a “multizone” technique, which is designed to tackle this difficult problem in three-dimensional general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations. While short-timescale variability should be interpreted with caution, the method is demonstrated to be well-suited for finding dynamical steady states over a wide dynamic range. We simulate accretion on a nonspinning SMBH ( a _* = 0) using initial conditions and the external galactic potential from a large-scale galaxy simulation and achieve a steady state over eight decades in radius. As found in H. Cho et al., the density scales with radius as ρ ∝ r ^−1 inside the Bondi radius R _B , which is located at R _B = 2 × 10 ^5 r _g (≈60 pc for M87), where r _g is the gravitational radius of the SMBH; the plasma- β is ∼ unity, indicating an extended magnetically arrested state; the mass accretion rate $\dot{M}$ is ≈1% of the analytical Bondi accretion rate ${\dot{M}}_{{\rm{B}}};$ and there is continuous energy feedback out to ≈100 R _B (or beyond > kpc) at a rate $\approx 0.02\dot{M}{c}^{2}$ . Surprisingly, no ordered rotation in the external medium survives as the magnetized gas flows to smaller radii, and the final steady solution is very similar to when the exterior has no rotation. Using the multizone method, we simulate GRMHD accretion over a wide range of Bondi radii, R _B ∼ 10 ^2 −10 ^7 r _g , and find that $\dot{M}/{\dot{M}}_{{B}}\approx {({R}_{{B}}/6\,{r}_{g})}^{-0.5}$ .https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad9561AccretionBondi accretionActive galactic nucleiSchwarzschild black holesSupermassive black holesMagnetohydrodynamical simulations |
| spellingShingle | Hyerin Cho Ben S. Prather Kung-Yi Su Ramesh Narayan Priyamvada Natarajan Multizone Modeling of Black Hole Accretion and Feedback in 3D GRMHD: Bridging Vast Spatial and Temporal Scales The Astrophysical Journal Accretion Bondi accretion Active galactic nuclei Schwarzschild black holes Supermassive black holes Magnetohydrodynamical simulations |
| title | Multizone Modeling of Black Hole Accretion and Feedback in 3D GRMHD: Bridging Vast Spatial and Temporal Scales |
| title_full | Multizone Modeling of Black Hole Accretion and Feedback in 3D GRMHD: Bridging Vast Spatial and Temporal Scales |
| title_fullStr | Multizone Modeling of Black Hole Accretion and Feedback in 3D GRMHD: Bridging Vast Spatial and Temporal Scales |
| title_full_unstemmed | Multizone Modeling of Black Hole Accretion and Feedback in 3D GRMHD: Bridging Vast Spatial and Temporal Scales |
| title_short | Multizone Modeling of Black Hole Accretion and Feedback in 3D GRMHD: Bridging Vast Spatial and Temporal Scales |
| title_sort | multizone modeling of black hole accretion and feedback in 3d grmhd bridging vast spatial and temporal scales |
| topic | Accretion Bondi accretion Active galactic nuclei Schwarzschild black holes Supermassive black holes Magnetohydrodynamical simulations |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad9561 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT hyerincho multizonemodelingofblackholeaccretionandfeedbackin3dgrmhdbridgingvastspatialandtemporalscales AT bensprather multizonemodelingofblackholeaccretionandfeedbackin3dgrmhdbridgingvastspatialandtemporalscales AT kungyisu multizonemodelingofblackholeaccretionandfeedbackin3dgrmhdbridgingvastspatialandtemporalscales AT rameshnarayan multizonemodelingofblackholeaccretionandfeedbackin3dgrmhdbridgingvastspatialandtemporalscales AT priyamvadanatarajan multizonemodelingofblackholeaccretionandfeedbackin3dgrmhdbridgingvastspatialandtemporalscales |