The Radiative Efficiency and Spectra of Slowly Accreting Black Holes from Two-Temperature GRRMHD Simulations

Abstract

We present axisymmetric numerical simulations of radiatively inefficient accretion flows onto black holes combining general relativity, magnetohydrodynamics, self-consistent electron thermodynamics, and frequency-dependent radiation transport. We investigate a range of accretion rates up to $10^{-5}{\dot{M}}_{\mathrm{Edd}}$ onto a $10^8{M}_{\odot }$ black hole with spin $a_{\star }=0.5$. We report on averaged flow thermodynamics as a function of accretion rate. We present the spectra of outgoing radiation and find that it varies strongly with accretion rate, from synchrotron-dominated in the radio at low $\dot{M}$ to inverse Compton-dominated at our highest $\dot{M}$. In contrast to canonical analytic models, we find that by $\dot{M}\approx 10^{-5}{\dot{M}}_{\mathrm{Edd}}$, the flow approaches $\sim 1\%$ radiative efficiency, with much of the radiation due to inverse Compton scattering off Coulomb-heated electrons far from the black hole. These results have broad implications for modeling of accreting black holes across a large fraction of the accretion rates realized in observed systems.

arXiv comment8 pages, 4 figures, submitted to ApJL. Comments welcome

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