Radiation Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Sub-Eddington accretion Flows in AGN: Origin of Soft X-ray Excess and Rapid Time Variabilities

Abstract

We investigate the origin of the soft X-ray excess component in Seyfert galaxies observed when their luminosity exceeds 0.1% of the Eddington luminosity ($L_{\mathrm{Edd}}$). The evolution of a dense blob in radiatively inefficient accretion flow (RIAF) is simulated by applying a radiation magnetohydrodynamic code, CANS+R. When the accretion rate onto a $10^7{M}_{\odot }$ black hole exceeds 10% of the Eddington accretion rate (${\dot{M}}_{\mathrm{Edd}}=L_{\mathrm{Edd}}/c^2$, where $c$ is the speed of light)}, the dense blob shrinks vertically because of radiative cooling and forms a Thomson thick, relatively cool ($\sim 10^{7-8}$ K) region. The cool region coexists with the optically thin, hot ($T\sim 10^{11}\mathrm{K}$) RIAF near the black hole. The cool disk is responsible for the soft X-ray emission, while hard X-rays are emitted from the hot inner accretion flow. The soft X-ray emitting region coexists with the optically thin, hot ($T\sim 10^{11}\mathrm{K}$), radiatively inefficient accretion flow (RIAF) near the black hole. Such a hybrid structure of hot and cool accretion flows is consistent with the observations of both hard and soft X-ray emissions from `changing-look' active galactic nuclei (CLAGN). Furthermore, we find that quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) are excited in the soft X-ray emitting region. These oscillations can be the origin of rapid X-ray time variabilities observed in CLAGN.

23 pages, 18 figures, Accepted for publication in ApJ