Bridging Bondi and Event Horizon Scales: 3D GRMHD Simulations Reveal X-Shaped Radio Galaxy Morphology

Abstract

X-shaped radio galaxies (XRGs) produce misaligned X-shaped jet pairs and make up $\lesssim 10\%$ of radio galaxies. XRGs are thought to emerge in galaxies featuring a binary supermassive black hole ($\mathrm{SMBH}$), $\mathrm{SMBH}$ merger, or large-scale ambient medium asymmetry. We demonstrate that XRG morphology can naturally form without such special, preexisting conditions. Our 3D general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulation for the first time follows magnetized rotating gas from outside the $\mathrm{SMBH}$ sphere of influence of radius $R_{\mathrm{B}}$ to the $\mathrm{SMBH}$ of gravitational radius $R_{\mathrm{g}}$, at the largest scale separation $R_{\mathrm{B}}/R_{\mathrm{g}}=10^3$ to date. Initially, our axisymmetric system of constant-density hot gas contains weak vertical magnetic field and rotates in an equatorial plane of a rapidly spinning $\mathrm{SMBH}$. We seed the gas with small-scale $2\%$-level pressure perturbations. Infalling gas forms an accretion disk, and the $\mathrm{SMBH}$ launches relativistically-magnetized collimated jets reaching well outside $R_{\mathrm{B}}$. Under the pressure of the infalling gas, the jets intermittently turn on and off, erratically wobble, and inflate pairs of cavities in different directions, resembling an X-shaped jet morphology. Synthetic X-ray images reveal multiple pairs of jet-powered shocks and cavities. Large-scale magnetic flux accumulates on the $\mathrm{SMBH}$, becomes dynamically important, and leads to a magnetically arrested disk state. The $\mathrm{SMBH}$ accretes at $2\%$ of the Bondi rate ($\dot{M}\simeq 2.4\times 10^{-3}{M}_{\odot }{\mathrm{yr}}^{-1}$ for M87*), and launches twin jets at $\eta =150\%$ efficiency. These jets are powerful enough ($P_{\mathrm{jets}}\simeq 2\times 10^{44}{\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$) to escape along the spin axis and end the short-lived jets state whose transient nature can account for the rarity of XRGs

arXiv comment10 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (52)

• Efficient Generation of Jets from Magnetically Arrested Accretion on a Rapidly Spinning Black Hole
• First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. VIII. Magnetic Field Structure near The Event Horizon
• Formation of Precessing Jets by Tilted Black-hole Discs in 3D General Relativistic MHD Simulations
• The Event Horizon General Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Code Comparison Project
• Accretion onto the Supermassive Black Hole in M87
• Tracing Black Hole Mergers Through Radio Lobe Morphology
• Black Holes on FIRE: Stellar Feedback Limits Early Feeding of Galactic Nuclei
• Relativistic MHD simulations of core-collapse GRB jets: 3D instabilities and magnetic dissipation
• Alignment of Magnetized Accretion Disks and Relativistic Jets with Spinning Black Holes
• Numerical Simulation of Hot Accretion Flows (I): A Large Radial Dynamical Range and the Density Profile of Accretion Flow
• Two Dimensional Adiabatic Flows onto a Black Hole: I. Fluid Accretion
• Accretion of low angular momentum material onto black holes: 2D magnetohydrodynamical case
• Three-dimensional Relativistic MHD Simulations of Active Galactic Nuclei Jets: Magnetic Kink Instability and Fanaroff-Riley Dichotomy
• Dynamics and High Energy Emission of the Flaring HST-1 Knot in the M 87 Jet
• The central parsecs of M87: jet emission and an elusive accretion disc
• Inside the Bondi radius of M87
• The Role of Magnetic Field Geometry in the Evolution of Neutron Star Merger Accretion Discs
• Radiatively Inefficient Accretion: Breezes, Winds and Hyperaccretion
• Accelerating AGN jets to parsec scales using general relativistic MHD simulations
• Accretion of low angular momentum material onto black holes: 2D hydrodynamical inviscid case
• A transition from parabolic to conical shape as a common effect in nearby AGN jets
• The Parabolic Jet Structure in M87 as a Magnetohydrodynamic Nozzle
• Ab Initio Horizon-Scale Simulations of Magnetically Arrested Accretion in Sagittarius A* Fed by Stellar Winds
• Rotating Accretion Flows: From Infinity to the Black Hole
• Global General Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Accretion Tori
• The Event Horizon of M87
• Three-dimensional Simulations of AGN Jets: Magnetic Kink Instability versus Conical Shocks
• Torque-Limited Growth of Massive Black Holes in Galaxies Across Cosmic Time
• GMRT observations of X-shaped radio sources
• Direct Detection of Black Hole-Driven Turbulence in the Centers of Galaxy Clusters
• Black hole to breakout: 3D GRMHD simulations of collapsar jets reveal a wide range of transients
• Hydrodynamical Backflow in X-shaped Radio Galaxy PKS 2014-55
• Jet collimation in NGC 315 and other nearby AGN
• The nature and energetics of AGN-driven perturbations in the hot gas in the Perseus Cluster
• Simulations of Jet Heating in Galaxy Clusters: Successes and Challenges
• Partitioning the Outburst Energy of a Low Eddington Accretion Rate AGN at the Center of an Elliptical Galaxy: the Recent 12 Myr History of the Supermassive Black Hole in M87
• Shocks in the relativistic transonic accretion with low angular momentum
• Magnetically Modified Spherical Accretion in GRMHD: Reconnection-Driven Convection and Jet Propagation
• Oscillating shocks in the low angular momentum flows as a source of variability of accreting black holes
• Bondi-Hoyle-Lyttleton accretion in Supergiant X-ray binaries: stability and disk formation
• Catching butterflies in the sky: Extended catalog of winged or X-shaped radio sources from the latest FIRST data release
• The Spin of M87*
• Effects of adiabatic index on the sonic surface and time variability of low angular momentum accretion flows
• The deepest $Chandra$ view of RBS 797: evidence for two pairs of equidistant X-ray cavities
• Hard X-ray selected giant radio galaxies -- II. Morphological evidence of restarted radio activity
• A discovery of young radio sources in the cores of giant radio galaxies selected at hard X-rays
• Physical parameters of active galactic nuclei derived from properties of jet geometry transition region
• Bondi-Hoyle-Lyttleton Accretion onto Star Clusters
• Radiatively Efficient Magnetized Bondi Accretion
• Outflows from inflows: the nature of Bondi-like accretion
• The Abundance of X-Shaped Radio Sources: Implications for the Gravitational Wave Background
• Observational Signatures of Black Hole Accretion: Rotating vs. Spherical Flows with Tilted Magnetic Fields