Unraveling circular polarimetric images of magnetically arrested accretion flows near event horizon of a black hole

Abstract

Magnetically arrested accretion flows are thought to fuel some of the supermassive black holes and to power their relativistic jets. We calculate and study a time sequence of linear and circular polarimetric images of numerical, high resolution and long duration simulations of magnetically dominated flows to investigate observational signatures of strong magnetic fields near the event horizon of a non-rotating black hole. We find that the magnitude of resolved linear and circular polarizations is rather sensitive to the assumption of the coupling of electron and ions in the accretion flow. Models with cooler electrons have higher Faraday rotation and conversion depths which results in scrambled linear polarization and enhanced circular polarization. In those high Faraday thickness cases the circular polarization is particularly sensitive to dynamics of toroidal-radial magnetic fields in the accretion flows. The models with high Faraday thickness are characterized by nearly constant handedness of circular polarization, consistent with observations of some accreting black holes. We also find that the emission region produced by light which is lensed around the black hole shows inversion of circular polarization handedness with respect to the handedness of the circular polarization of the entire emission region. Such polarity inversions are unique to near horizon emission.

12 pages, accepted for publication in MNRAS

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Cited by in corpus (22)

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• First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. IX. Detection of Near-horizon Circular Polarization
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• Black Hole Magnetic Fields and Their Imprint on Circular Polarization Images
• Polarized image of a rotating black hole in Scalar-Tensor-Vector-Gravity theory
• Polarized image of an equatorial emitting ring around a 4D Gauss-Bonnet black hole
• Polarized image of a rotating black hole surrounded by a cold dark matter halo
• Can MAD accretion disks launching structured jets explain both GRB and AGN engines? Magnetically arrested accretion disks launching structured jets in application to GRB and AGN engines
• Component of energy flow from supercritical accretion disks around rotating stellar mass black holes
• How Spatially Resolved Polarimetry Informs Black Hole Accretion Flow Models
• Probing Plasma Physics with Spectral Index Maps of Accreting Black Holes on Event Horizon Scales
• Polarimetric Geometric Modeling for mm-VLBI Observations of Black Holes
• Survey of Non-thermal Electron around Supermassive Black Holes through Polarization Flips
• Photon ring polarimetry with next-generation black hole imaging I. M87*
• Magnetic flux eruptions at the root of time-lags in low-luminosity AGN
• Electromagnetic signatures of strong-field gravity from accreting black holes
• Diverse Polarimetric Features of AGN Jets from Various Viewing Angles: Towards a Unified View
• Jet Archaeology and Forecasting: Image Variability and Magnetic Field Configuration
• Decoding a black hole metric from the interferometric pattern of the relativistic images of a compact source
• Investigating the Disk-Jet Structure in M87 through Flux Separation in the Linear and Circular Polarization Images
• PATOKA: Simulating Electromagnetic Observables of Black Hole Accretion
• Photon Ring Symmetries in Simulated Linear Polarization Images of Messier 87*