Physical Properties of the Inner Shocks in Hot, Tilted Black Hole Accretion Flows

Abstract

Simulations of hot, pressure supported, tilted black hole accretion flows, in which the angular momentum of the flow is misaligned with the black hole spin axis, can exhibit two non-axisymmetric shock structures in the inner regions of the flow. We analyze the strength and significance of these shock structures in simulations with tilt angles of 10 and 15 degrees. By integrating fluid trajectories in the simulations through the shocks, and tracking the variations of fluid quantities along these trajectories, we show that these shocks are strong, with substantial compression ratios, in contrast to earlier claims. However, they are only moderately relativistic. We also show that the two density enhancements resembling flow streams in their shape are in fact merely post-shock compressions, as fluid trajectories cut across, rather than flow along, them. The dissipation associated with the shocks is a substantial fraction ($\simeq 3-12$ percent) of the rest mass energy advected into the hole, and therefore comparable to the dissipation expected from turbulence. The shocks should therefore make order unity changes in the observed properties of black hole accretion flows that are tilted.

Accepted to The Astrophysical Journal

References in corpus (8)

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• Galactic Centre stellar winds and Sgr A* accretion
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• MHD Simulation of a Disk Subjected to Lense-Thirring Precession
• Alignment Timescale of the Microquasar GRO J1655-40

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• Conservative GRMHD Simulations of Moderately Thin, Tilted Accretion Disks
• The Effects of Tilt on the Images of Black Hole Accretion Flows
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• On the dynamics of low-viscosity warped discs around black holes
• Soft X-Ray Excess from Shocked Accreting Plasma in Active Galactic Nuclei
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• Modeling quasar accretion disc temperature profiles
• The Effects of Tilt on the Time Variability of Millimeter and Infrared Emission from Sagittarius A*
• Electron Heating in the Trans-Relativistic Perpendicular Shocks of Tilted Accretion Flows
• Shock-induced partial alignment in geometrically-thick tilted accretion disks around black holes
• Tilted Accretion Disks
• Polarization Signatures of Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in Simulated Tilted, Truncated Disks
• On the origin of core radio emissions from black hole sources in the realm of relativistic shocked accretion flow