Binary black holes gone MAD: Magnetically arrested minidisks around nonspinning black holes

Abstract

We demonstrate the formation of magnetically arrested minidisks (MAM) around equal-mass, nonspinning binary black holes with magnetohydrodynamic simulations of circumbinary disk accretion in full 3+1 general relativity. The initial separation of $d\sim 30M$ allows the black holes to host large minidisks that suppress the total rest-mass accretion rate variability, which is modulated primarily at $\sim 1.6f_{\mathrm{orb}}$. Each black hole horizon saturates with dimensionless magnetic flux $\varphi \sim 30$. Magnetic reconnection near the horizons drives recurrent eruptions which are expected to drive flaring in the infrared and X-ray bands. Our results establish MAMs as a new outcome of circumbinary disk accretion, and a promising source of novel electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational waves from binary black holes.

12 pages, 3 figures. Supplemental movie: https://youtube.com/shorts/89F_4GaaXo8?feature=share

References in corpus (63)

• The NANOGrav 15-year Data Set: Evidence for a Gravitational-Wave Background
• First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. V. Physical Origin of the Asymmetric Ring
• Accurate Evolutions of Orbiting Black-Hole Binaries Without Excision
• Gravitational wave extraction from an inspiraling configuration of merging black holes
• Efficient Generation of Jets from Magnetically Arrested Accretion on a Rapidly Spinning Black Hole
• On the Numerical Integration of Einstein's Field Equations
• General Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Magnetically Choked Accretion Flows around Black Holes
• The NANOGrav 15-year Data Set: Search for Signals from New Physics
• Magnetically Arrested Disk: An Energetically Efficient Accretion Flow
• Evolutions in 3D numerical relativity using fixed mesh refinement
• First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. V. Testing Astrophysical Models of the Galactic Center Black Hole
• Three-dimensional MHD Simulations of Radiatively Inefficient Accretion Flows
• A Compact Supermassive Binary Black Hole System
• Formation of gas disks in merging galaxies
• A single-domain spectral method for black hole puncture data
• Magnetically Driven Accretion Flows in the Kerr Metric I: Models and Overall Structure
• The Event Horizon General Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Code Comparison Project
• A Fast Apparent-Horizon Finder for 3-Dimensional Cartesian Grids in Numerical Relativity
• A systematic search for close supermassive black hole binaries in the Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey
• New Horizons for Fundamental Physics with LISA
• Black hole flares: ejection of accreted magnetic flux through 3D plasmoid-mediated reconnection
• Magnetic Reconnection and Hot Spot Formation in Black Hole Accretion Disks
• Expected properties of the first gravitational wave signal detected with pulsar timing arrays
• Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamics In Dynamical Spacetimes: Numerical Methods And Tests
• Swift J1644+57 gone MAD: the case for dynamically-important magnetic flux threading the black hole in a jetted tidal disruption event
• Binary black-hole evolutions of excision and puncture data
• Large-Scale Poloidal Magnetic Field Dynamo Leads to Powerful Jets in GRMHD Simulations of Black Hole Accretion with Toroidal Field
• The NANOGrav 11-Year Data Set: Limits on Gravitational Waves from Individual Supermassive Black Hole Binaries
• IllinoisGRMHD: An Open-Source, User-Friendly GRMHD Code for Dynamical Spacetimes
• Binary Black-Hole Mergers in Magnetized Disks: Simulations in Full General Relativity
• Accretion disks around binary black holes of unequal mass: GRMHD simulations near decoupling
• Sgr A* near-infrared flares from reconnection events in a magnetically arrested disc
• Single Sources in the Low-Frequency Gravitational Wave Sky: properties and time to detection by pulsar timing arrays
• Electromagnetic Counterparts to Massive Black Hole Mergers
• Supermassive Black Hole Binary Candidates from the Pan-STARRS1 Medium Deep Survey
• Binary black hole mergers in gaseous disks: Simulations in general relativity
• Accretion disks around binary black holes of unequal mass: GRMHD simulations of postdecoupling and merger
• Relativistic MHD in dynamical spacetimes: Improved EM gauge condition for AMR grids
• Black hole to breakout: 3D GRMHD simulations of collapsar jets reveal a wide range of transients
• The Unanticipated Phenomenology of the Blazar PKS~2131$-$021: A Unique Super-Massive Black Hole Binary Candidate
• Flux eruption events drive angular momentum transport in magnetically arrested accretion flows
• HI Observations of the Supermassive Binary Black Hole System in 0402+379
• Multi-band light curves from eccentric accreting supermassive black hole binaries
• Mini-disk accretion onto spinning black hole binaries: quasi-periodicities and outflows
• kuibit: Analyzing Einstein Toolkit simulations with Python
• Minidisk dynamics in accreting, spinning black hole binaries: Simulations in full general relativity
• Disks Around Merging Binary Black Holes: From GW150914 to Supermassive Black Holes
• A new scheme for matching general relativistic ideal magnetohydrodynamics to its force-free limit
• Rapid Black Hole Spin-down by Thick Magnetically Arrested Disks
• Circumbinary Disk Accretion into Spinning Black Hole Binaries
• Exploring the Outer Limits of Numerical Relativity
• Multiple periods in the variability of the supermassive black hole binary candidate quasar PG1302-102?
• Collapsar Black Holes are Likely Born Slowly Spinning
• Initial data for general relativistic simulations of multiple electrically charged black holes with linear and angular momenta
• Winds and Disk Turbulence Exert Equal Torques on Thick Magnetically Arrested Disks
• Minidisk Influence on Flow Variability in Accreting Spinning Black Hole Binaries: Simulations in Full General Relativity
• Magnetically Arrested Circumbinary Accretion Flows
• GRMHD simulations of accretion flows onto massive binary black hole mergers embedded in a thin slab of gas
• General Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Accretion Disks Around Tilted Binary Black Holes of Unequal Mass
• Relativistic gas accretion onto supermassive black Hole binaries from inspiral through merger
• Decoupling of a supermassive black hole binary from its magnetically arrested circumbinary accretion disk
• Coincident Multimessenger Bursts from Eccentric Supermassive Binary Black Holes
• Effects of eccentricity on accreting binary black holes: MHD simulations in full GR reveal novel periodicities in jet power and synchrotron spectra