Radiative Cooling Effects on Plasmoid Formation in Black Hole Accretion Flows with Multiple Magnetic Loops
arXiv:2601.10968 · doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202557948
Abstract
We investigate the influence of radiative cooling on plasmoid formation in black hole accretion flows using 2D and 3D two-temperature GRMHD simulations with multi-loop magnetic fields. Our results show that radiative cooling suppresses the transition to a MAD state by reducing magnetic flux accumulation near the horizon, modifies the disk structure via lower electron temperatures and increased equatorial density, and alters reconnection properties:compressing current sheets, shortening plasmoid lifetimes, and increasing their frequency. We also find enhanced negative energy-at-infinity density in plasmoids near the ergosphere. These findings indicate that radiative cooling critically shapes both large scale accretion dynamics and small-scale reconnection phenomena, potentially modulating black hole energy extraction through reconnection-driven Penrose processes.
14 pages, 18 figures, accepted for publication in A&A