Accretion disc dynamo activity in local simulations spanning weak-to-strong net vertical magnetic flux regimes

Abstract

Strongly magnetized accretion discs around black holes have attractive features that may explain enigmatic aspects of X-ray binary behaviour. The structure and evolution of these discs are governed by a dynamo-like mechanism, which channels part of the accretion power liberated by the magnetorotational instability (MRI) into an ordered toroidal magnetic field. To study dynamo activity, we performed three-dimensional, stratified, isothermal, ideal magnetohydrodynamic shearing box simulations. The strength of the self-sustained toroidal magnetic field depends on the net vertical magnetic flux, which we vary across almost the entire range over which the MRI is linearly unstable. We quantify disc structure and dynamo properties as a function of the initial ratio of mid-plane gas pressure to vertical magnetic field pressure, ${\beta }_0^{\mathrm{mid}}=p_{\mathrm{gas}}/p_B$. For $10^5\ge {\beta }_0^{\mathrm{mid}}\ge 10$ the effective $\alpha$-viscosity parameter scales as a power-law. Dynamo activity persists up to and including ${\beta }_0^{\mathrm{mid}}=10^2$, at which point the entire vertical column of the disc is magnetic pressure-dominated. Still stronger fields result in a highly inhomogeneous disc structure, with large density fluctuations. We show that the turbulent steady state ${\beta }^{\mathrm{mid}}$ in our simulations is well-matched by the analytic model of Begelman et al. (2015) describing the creation and buoyant escape of toroidal field, while the vertical structure of the disc can be broadly reproduced using this model. Finally, we discuss the implications of our results for observed properties of X-ray binaries.

19 pages, 13 figures, 3 tables; Accepted to MNRAS

References in corpus (7)

• X-ray Properties of Black-Hole Binaries
• Athena: A New Code for Astrophysical MHD
• An Unsplit Godunov Method for Ideal MHD via Constrained Transport in Three Dimensions
• Accretion Discs with Strong Toroidal Magnetic Fields
• High accretion rates in magnetised Keplerian discs mediated by a Parker instability driven dynamo
• A Simple and Accurate Riemann Solver for Isothermal MHD
• Empirical relation between angular momentum transport and thermal-to-magnetic pressure ratio in shearing box simulations

Cited by in corpus (91)

• Modeling GW170817 based on numerical relativity and its implications
• Super-Eddington Accretion Disks around Supermassive black Holes
• Non-thermal particle acceleration in collisionless relativistic electron-proton reconnection
• Large-Scale Poloidal Magnetic Field Dynamo Leads to Powerful Jets in GRMHD Simulations of Black Hole Accretion with Toroidal Field
• Global Evolution of an Accretion Disk with Net Vertical Field: Coronal Accretion, Flux Transport, and Disk Winds
• Global Radiation Magneto-hydrodynamic Simulations of Sub-Eddington Accretion Disks around Supermassive Black Holes
• Bardeen-Petterson Alignment, Jets and Magnetic Truncation in GRMHD Simulations of Tilted Thin Accretion Discs
• Properties of Neutrino-driven Ejecta from the Remnant of Binary Neutron Star Merger : Purely Radiation Hydrodynamics Case
• General relativistic viscous hydrodynamics of differentially rotating neutron stars
• Strong disc winds traced throughout outbursts in black-hole X-ray binaries
• Simulating realistic disc formation in tidal disruption events
• Strongly magnetized accretion disks: structure and accretion from global magnetohydrodynamic simulations
• Gravitational waves from remnant massive neutron stars of binary neutron star merger: Viscous hydrodynamics effects
• Advances in mean-field dynamo theory and applications to astrophysical turbulence
• Two-Temperature GRRMHD Simulations of M87
• A systematic description of wind-driven protoplanetary discs
• What really makes an accretion disc MAD
• The Accretion Disk Wind in the Black Hole GRS 1915+105
• GRB and blazar jets shining through their stripes
• Turbulence Regulates the Rate of Planetesimal Formation via Gravitational Collapse
• Magnetic outflows from turbulent accretion disks: I. Vertical structure & secular evolution
• Magnetically-driven jets and winds from weakly magnetized accretion disks
• A unified accretion-ejection paradigm for black hole X-ray binaries. II. Observational signatures of jet-emitting disks
• Resolution Dependence of Magnetorotational Turbulence in the Isothermal Stratified Shearing Box
• MHD instabilities in accretion disks and their implications in driving fast magnetic reconnection
• Warm and thick corona for magnetically supported disk in GBHB
• Jet Formation in 3D GRMHD Simulations of Bondi-Hoyle-Lyttleton Accretion
• Strongly magnetized accretion discs require poloidal flux
• The magnetorotational instability in debris-disc gas
• Magnetically elevated accretion disks in active galactic nuclei: broad emission line regions and associated star formation
• Testing the disk-corona interplay in radiatively-efficient broad-line AGN
• EXor outbursts from disk amplification of stellar magnetic cycles
• Magnetorotational instability and dynamo action in gravitoturbulent astrophysical discs
• Instability in strongly magnetized accretion discs: A global perspective
• Black Hole Spin in X-ray Binaries: Giving Uncertainties an $f$
• On the Decay of Strong Magnetization in Global Disc Simulations with Toroidal Fields
• The influence of accretion disk thickness on the large-scale magnetic dynamo
• The effects of large-scale magnetic fields on the model for repeating changing-look AGNs
• Impact of convection and resistivity on angular momentum transport in dwarf novae
• Magnetic flux stabilizing thin accretion disks
• Can Lense-Thirring precession produce QPOs in supersonic accretion flows?
• Turbulent and wind-driven accretion in dwarf novae threaded by a large scale magnetic field
• Global Three-Dimensional Radiation Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Accretion onto a Stellar Mass Black Hole at Sub- and Near-critical Accretion Rates
• Origin of Spin-Orbit Misalignments: The Microblazar V4641 Sgr
• Convective Quenching of Field Reversals in Accretion Disc Dynamos
• Equilibrium configurations of charged fluid around Kerr black hole
• Are Low-Frequency Quasi-Periodic Oscillations seen in accretion flows the disk response to a jet instability?
• The Dynamics of Truncated Black Hole Accretion Disks II: Magnetohydrodynamic Case
• The distribution of accretion rates as a diagnostic of protoplanetary disc evolution
• Saturation of the magnetorotational instability and the origin of magnetically elevated accretion discs
• Convection Enhances Magnetic Turbulence in AM CVn Accretion Disks
• Winds and Disk Turbulence Exert Equal Torques on Thick Magnetically Arrested Disks
• Magnetic fields catalyze massive black hole formation and growth
• Dynamics Near the Inner Dead-Zone Edges in a Proprotoplanetary Disk
• Active modes and dynamical balances in MRI-turbulence of Keplerian disks with a net vertical magnetic field
• Local models of two-temperature accretion disc coronae. I. Structure, outflows, and energetics
• Magnetohydrodynamics of protoplanetary discs
• Magnetic field transport in compact binaries
• Turbulence, Transport and Waves in Ohmic Dead Zones
• Universal small-scale structure in turbulence driven by magnetorotational instability
• Finite-time response of dynamo mean-field effects in magnetorotational turbulence
• Black Hole Formation and Explosion from Rapidly Rotating Very Massive Stars
• Impact of the disk magnetization on MHD disk wind signature
• Magnetic Fields and Accreting Giant Planets around PDS 70
• Multiphase Circumnuclear Gas in a Low-$\beta$ Disk: Turbulence and Magnetic Field Reversals
• Energy Extraction from a Black Hole by a Strongly Magnetized Thin Accretion Disk
• Black Hole Fundamental Plane in Low-Excitation Radio Galaxies
• Quasi-periodic oscillations and the global modes of relativistic, MHD accretion discs
• Electrically charged matter in permanent rotation around magnetized black hole: A toy model for self-gravitating fluid tori
• Magnetorotationally driven wind cycles in local disc models
• Stratified Global MHD Models of Accretion Disks in Semi-Detached Binaries
• Quasi-periodic oscillations, trapped inertial waves and strong toroidal magnetic fields in relativistic accretion discs
• Turbulence Closure for Mixing Length Theories
• A strong negative correlation between radio loudness $R_{\mathrm{UV}}$ and optical-to-X-ray spectral index ${\alpha }_{\mathrm{ox}}$ in low-luminosity AGNs
• MRI turbulence in vertically stratified accretion discs at large magnetic Prandtl numbers
• Influence of the turbulent magnetic pressure on isothermal jet emitting disks
• Close-in giant-planet formation via in-situ gas accretion and their natal disk properties
• Shedding light on the MRI driven dynamo in a stratified shearing box
• Multi-frequency observations of PDS 70c: Radio emission mechanisms in the circum-planetary environment
• Advection-dominated accretion flow for the varied transition luminosities in black hole X-ray binaries
• Evidence for Low Universal Equilibrium Black Hole Spin in Luminous Magnetically Arrested Disks
• MHD in a cylindrical shearing box II: Intermittent Bursts and Substructures in MRI Turbulence
• Angular momentum transport and thermal stabilization of optically thin, advective accretion flows through large-scale magnetic fields
• Viscous torque in turbulent magnetized AGN accretion disks and its effects on EMRI's gravitational waves
• The origin of X-ray emission in 3CRR sources: hints from mid-infrared Spitzer observations
• Jet formation in post-AGB binaries: Confronting cold magnetohydrodynamic disc wind wind models with observations
• Halting Migration in Magnetospherically Sculpted Protoplanetary Disks
• Anchoring polar magnetic field in a stationary thick accretion disk
• Global magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the inner regions of protoplanetary discs. II. Vertical-net-flux regime
• Cooling+Heating Flows in Galaxy clusters: Turbulent heating, spectral modelling, and cooling efficiency
• A magnetically-supported disk-corona model for Changing-Look AGN transitions