Effect of geometrically thin discs on precessing, thick flows: Relevance to type-C QPOs

Abstract

Type-C quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) are the low-frequency QPOs most commonly observed during the hard spectral state of X-ray binary systems. The leading model for these QPOs is the Lense-Thirring precession of a hot, geometrically thick accretion flow that is misaligned with respect to the black hole spin axis. However, none of the work done to date has accounted for the effects of a surrounding, geometrically thin disc on this precession, as would be the case in the truncated disc picture of the hard state. To address this, we perform a set of GRMHD simulations of truncated discs misaligned with the spin axes of their central black holes. Our results confirm that the inner-hot flow still undergoes precession, though at a rate that is only 5 percent of what is predicted for an isolated, precessing torus. We find that the exchange of angular momentum between the outer, thin and the inner, thick disc causes this slow-down in the precession rate and discuss its relevance to type-C QPOs.

Submitted to MNRAS Letters

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• Measuring Black Hole Spins through X-ray Reflection Spectroscopy and the Relativistic Precession Model: the case of XTE J1859+226
• The Luminous, Hard State Can't Be MAD
• Proof of principle X-ray reflection mass measurement of the black hole in H1743-322
• Evidence for a dynamic corona in the short-term time lags of black hole X-ray binary MAXI J1820+070
• Electron Heating in the Trans-Relativistic Perpendicular Shocks of Tilted Accretion Flows
• Extreme scale height variations and nozzle shocks in warped disks
• Tilted Accretion Disks
• Misalignment of the Lense-Thirring precession by an accretion torque
• Polarization Signatures of Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in Simulated Tilted, Truncated Disks