Extracting Energy Magnetically from Plunging Region of Black-Hole Accretion Disk

An analytical expression for the jet power extracted from the plunging region between a black hole （BH） horizon and the inner edge of the disk （hereafter the PL power） is derived based on an improved equivalent circuit in BH magnetosphere with a mapping relation between the radial coordinate of the plunging region and that of the remote astrophysical load. It is shown that the PL power is of great importance in explaining jet power and dominates over the BZ and DL powers for a wide value range of the BH spin. In addition, we show that the PL power derived in our model can be fitted with the strong jet powers of several 3CR FR I radio galaxies, which cannot be explained by virtue of the BZ mechanism. Furthermore, the condition for negative energy of the accreting particles in the plunging region is discussed with the validity of the second law of BH thermodynamics.

Dynamics and collisions of episodic jets from black holes and accretion disk systems

In many astrophysical black hole systems, episodic jets of plasma blobs have been observed, which are much faster and more powerful than continuous jets. A magnetohydrodynamical model was proposed by Yuan et al. to study the formation of episodic jets in Sgr A＊. By taking Sgr A＊ and a stellar mass black hole as examples, we modify the model of Yuan et al. by including the effects of relativity, and further study the relativistic motion and expansion of episodic jets of plasma blobs. Then we study the collision between two consecutive ejections in the modified model, and calculate the magnetic energy released in the collision. Our results show two consecutive blobs can collide with each other, and the released magnetic energy is more than 1050 erg, which supports the idea that a gamma-ray burst is powered by the collision of episodic jets, as suggested by Yuan ＆ Zhang.

Exploring the Accretion Disk Structure and X-ray Radiation of GX 17+2 Based on kHz QPOs and Cross-correlations

Applying the timing tools of kilohertz quasi-periodic oscillations(k Hz QPOs)and cross-correlations,we study the influence of the magnetosphere-disk relation on the X-ray radiation process of GX 17+2.First,as the spectral state track of X-ray emission evolves along the horizontal branch(HB),the magnetosphere-disk radii of the source derived by k Hz QPOs shrink from r~24 km to r~18 km,while its average X-ray intensities in≤10 ke V and in≥10 ke V show the opposite evolutional trends.Moreover,this branch has been detected with the anti-correlations between the low-/high-energy(e.g.,2–5 ke V/16–30 ke V)X-rays.We suggest that in HB there may exist an X-ray radiation transfer process at the disk radii near the neutron star(NS),i.e.,~5–10 km away from the surface,which probably originates from the interaction between the corona or jet with high-energy X-rays and accretion disk with low-energy X-rays.Second,as the source evolves along the normal branch(NB)and along the flaring branch(FB),their average X-ray intensities in all~2–30 ke V show the monotonously decreasing and monotonously increasing trends,respectively.In addition,these two branches are both dominated by the positive correlations between the low-and high-energy(e.g.,2–5 ke V/16–30 ke V)X-rays.Moreover,the evolution along NB is accompanied by the shrinking of the magnetosphere-disk radii from r~18 km to r~16 km.We ascribe these phenomena to that as the shrinking of the accretion disk radius,the piled up accretion matter around the NS surface may trigger the radiation that produces both the low-and high-energy X-rays simultaneously,and then form the branches of NB and FB.

On the torque exerted by a warped, magnetically threaded accretion disk

Most astrophysical accretion disks are likely to be warped.In X-ray binaries,the spin evolution of an accreting neutron star is critically dependent on the interaction between the neutron star magnetic field and the accretion disk.There have been extensive investigations on the accretion torque exerted by a coplanar disk that is magnetically threaded by the magnetic field lines from the neutron stars,but relevant works on warped/tilted accretion disks are still lacking.In this paper we develop a simplified twocomponent model,in which the disk is comprised of an inner coplanar part and an outer,tilted part.Based on standard assumption on the formation and evolution of the toroidal magnetic field component,we derive the dimensionless torque and show that a warped/titled disk is more likely to spin up the neutron star compared with a coplanar disk.We also discuss the possible influence of various initial parameters on the torque.

Circular geodesics and accretion disk in the spacetime of a black hole including global monopole

We study circular time-like geodesics in the spacetime of a black hole including global monopole. We show that when the range of parameter changed the properties of the circular geodesics and the radiation of accretion disks are different. It follows that the properties of the accretion disk around black hole including global monopole can be different from that of a disk around Schwarzschild black hole.

Nucleosynthesis in the accretion disks of Type Ⅱ collapsars

We investigate nucleosynthesis inside the gamma-ray burst （GRB） accre- tion disks formed by the Type II collapsars. In these collapsars, the core collapse of massive stars first leads to the formation of a proto-neutron star. After that, an out- ward moving shock triggers a successful supernova. However, the supernova ejecta lacks momentum and within a few seconds the newly formed neutron star gets trans- formed to a stellar mass black hole via massive fallback. The hydrodynamics of such an accretion disk formed from the fallback material of the supernova ejecta has been studied extensively in the past. We use these well-established hydrodynamic models for our accretion disk in order to understand nucleosynthesis, which is mainly ad- vection dominated in the outer regions. Neutrino cooling becomes important in the inner disk where the temperature and density are higher. The higher the accretion rate （M） is, the higher the density and temperature are in the disks. We deal with accre- tion disks with relatively low accretion rates： 0.001 Mo s-1 ~ 3）/~ 0.01 Mo S--1 and hence these disks are predominantly advection dominated. We use He-rich and Si- rich abundances as the initial condition of nucleosynthesis at the outer disk, and being equipped with the disk hydrodynamics and the nuclear network code, we study the abundance evolution as matter inflows and falls into the central object. We investigate the variation in the nucleosynthesis products in the disk with the change in the initial abundance at the outer disk and also with the change in the mass accretion rate. We report the synthesis of several unusual nuclei like 31p, 39K, 43Sc＇ 35C1 and various isotopes of titanium, vanadium, chromium, manganese and copper. We also confirm that isotopes of iron, cobalt, nickel, argon, calcium, sulphur and silicon get synthe- sized in the disk, as shown by previous authors. Much of these heavy elements thus synthesized are ejected from the disk via outflows and hence they should leave their signature in observed data.

A truncated accretion disk in the galactic black hole candidate source H1743–322

To investigate the geometry of the accretion disk in the source H1743-322, we have carried out a detailed X-ray temporal and spectral study using RXTE pointed observations. We have selected all data pertaining to the Steep Power Law （SPL） state during the 2003 outburst of this source. We find anti-correlated hard X-ray lags in three of the observations and the changes in the spectral and timing parameters （like the QPO frequency） confirm the idea of a truncated accretion disk in this source, Compiling data from similar observations of other sources, we find a correlation between the fractional change in the QPO frequency and the observed delay. We suggest that these observations indicate a definite size scale in the inner accretion disk （the radius of the truncated disk） and we explain the observed correlation using various disk parameters like Compton cooling time scale, viscous time scale etc..

A possible origin of viscosity in Keplerian accretion disks due to secondary perturbation:Turbulent transport without magnetic fields

The origin of hydrodynamic turbulence in rotating shear flow is a long standing puzzle.Resolving it is especially important in astrophysics when the flow＇s angular momentum profile is Keplerian which forms an accretion disk having negligible molecular viscosity.Hence,any viscosity in such systems must be due to turbulence,arguably governed by magnetorotational instability,especially when temperature T ≥10 5.However,such disks around quiescent cataclysmic variables,protoplanetary and star-forming disks,and the outer regions of disks in active galactic nuclei are practically neutral in charge because of their low temperature,and thus are not expected to be coupled with magnetic fields enough to generate any transport due to the magnetorotational instability.This flow is similar to plane Couette flow including the Coriolis force,at least locally.What drives their turbulence and then transport,when such flows do not exhibit any unstable mode under linear hydrodynamic perturbation？ We demonstrate that the three-dimensional secondary disturbance to the primarily perturbed flow that triggers elliptical instability may generate significant turbulent viscosity in the range 0.0001 ≤νt≤ 0.1,which can explain transport in accretion flows.

Transition from radiatively inefficient to cooling dominated phase in two temperature accretion disks around black holes

We investigate the transition of a radiatively inefficient phase of a viscous two temperature accreting flow to a cooling dominated phase and vice versa around black holes. Based on a global sub-Keplerian accretion disk model in steady state, including explicit cooling processes self-consistently, we show that general advective accretion flow passes through various phases during its infall towards a black hole. Bremsstrahlung, syn- chrotron and inverse Comptonization of soft photons are considered as possible cooling mechanisms. Hence the flow governs a much lower electron temperature ～10^8 - 10^9.5 K compared to the hot protons of temperature ～10^10.2 - 10^11.8 K in the range of the accretion rate in Eddington units 0.01≤M≤ 100. Therefore, the solutions may potentially explain the hard X-rays and the γ-rays emitted from AGNs and X-ray binaries. We finally compare the solutions for two different regimes of viscosity and conclude that a weakly viscous flow is expected to be cooling dominated compared to its highly viscous counterpart which is radiatively inefficient. The flow is successfully able to reproduce the observed luminosities of the under-fed AGNs and quasars （e.g. Sgr A＊）, ultra-luminous X-ray sources （e.g. SS433）, as well as the highly luminous AGNs and ultra-luminous quasars （e.g. PKS 0743-67） at different combinations of the mass accretion rate and ratio of specific heats.

2.5-dimensional solution of the advective accretion disk:a self-similar approach

We provide a 2.5-dimensional solution to a complete set of viscous hydrodynamical equations describing accretion-induced outflows and plausible jets around black holes/compact objects. We prescribe a self-consistent advective disk-outflow coupling model, which explicitly includes the information of vertical flux. Inter-connecting dynamics of an inflow-outflow system essentially upholds the conservation laws. We provide a set of analytical family of solutions through a self-similar approach. The flow parameters of the disk-outflow system depend strongly on the viscosity parameter α and the cooling factor f.

Comptonization and Reprocessing Processes in Accretion Disks: Applications to the Seyfert 1 Galaxies NGC 5548 and NGC 4051

Simultaneous multi-wavelength observations have revealed complex variability in AGNs. To explain the variability we considered a theoretical model consisting of an inner hot comptonizing corona and an outer thin accretion disk, with interactions between the two components in the form of comptonization and reprocessing. We found that the variability of AGNs is strongly affected by the parameters of the model, namely, the truncated disk radius rmin, the corona radius rs, the temperature KTe and the optical depth TO of the corona. We applied this model to the two best observed Seyfert 1 galaxies, NGC 5548 and NGC 4051. Our model can reproduce satisfactory the observed SEDs. Our fits indicate that NGC 5548 may have experienced dramatic changes in physical parameters between 1989-1990 and 1998, and that NGC 4051 has a much larger truncated disk radius （700 Schwarzschild radii） than NGC 5548 （several tens of Schwarzschild radii）. Since we adopted a more refined treatment of the comptonization process rather than simply assuming a cut-off power law, our results should be more reasonable than the previous ones.

Numerical simulation of the Hall effect in magnetized accretion disks with the Pluto code

We investigate the Hall effect in a standard magnetized accretion disk which is accompanied by dissipation due to viscosity and magnetic resistivity. By consider- ing an initial magnetic field, using the PLUTO code, we perform a numerical magne- tohydrodynamic simulation in order to study the effect of Hall diffusion on the physi- cal structure of the disk. Current density and temperature of the disk are significantly modified by Hall diffusion, but the global structure of the disk is not substantially affected. The changes in the current densities and temperature of the disk lead to a modification in the disk luminosity and radiation.

Constraints on black hole spins with a general relativistic accretion disk corona model

The peaks in the spectra of the accretion disks surrounding massive black holes in quasars are in the far-UV or soft X-ray band, which are usually not observed. However, in the disk corona model, soft photons from the disk are Comptonized to high energy in the hot corona, and the hard X-ray spectra （lu- minosity and spectral shape） contain information on the incident spectra from the disk. The values of black hole spin parameter a. are inferred from the spectral fitting, which are spread over a large range, ~ -0.94 to 0.998. We find that the inclination angles and mass accretion rates are well determined by the spectral fitting, but the results are sensitive to the accuracy of black hole mass estimates. No tight constraints on the black hole spins are achieved, if the uncertainties in black hole mass measurements are a factor of four, which are typical for the single-epoch reverberation mapping method. Recently, the accuracy of black hole mass measurement has been significantly improved to 0.2 - 0.4 dex with the velocity resolved reverber- ation mapping method. The black hole spin can be well constrained if the mass measurement accuracy is 50%. In the accretion disk corona scenario, a fraction of power dissipated in the disk is transported into the corona, and therefore the accretion disk is thinner than a bare disk for the same mass accretion rate, because the radiation pressure in the disk is reduced. We find that the thin disk approximation, H/R ≤0. 1, is still valid if 0.3 〈 m 〈 0.5, provided half of the dissipated power is radiated in the corona above the disk.

Radiation properties of the accretion disk around a black hole in Einstein-Maxwell-scalar theory

In this study,we explore the properties of a non-rotating black hole in the Einstein-Maxwell-scalar(EMS)theory and investigate the luminosity of the accretion disk surrounding it.We determine all the orbital parameters of particles in the accretion disk,including the radius of the innermost stable circular orbit(ISCO)with angular velocity,angular momentum,and energy.Further,we study the radiative efficiency for different values of black hole parameters.Finally,we analyze the flux,differential luminosity,and temperature of the accretion disk.

Rastall gravity:accretion disk image in the context of radiation fields and visual transformations compared to Reissner-Nordström black hole

In this study,we investigated the astronomical implications of Rastall gravity,particularly its behavior amidst a radiation field compared to Reissner-Nordström(RN)black holes.We found a crucial correlation between the dynamics of the accretion disk and the parameters Q and Nr,which properly reflect the influence of spacetime metrics on the disk’s appearance.Elevated electric charge Q causes contraction in the disk’s orbit due to enhanced gravitational effects,while higher Nr values lead to outward expansion,influenced by the attributes of the radiation field.Interestingly,the charged black holes surrounded by radiation fields exhibit distinct visual disparities from RN black holes.Brightness decreases and expansion occurs within the innermost stable circular orbit of the accretion disk with rising Nr values.Our study also reveals the process by which the accretion disk transitions from a conventional disk-like structure to a hat-like form at different observation angles,with the redshift effect gradually intensifying.Moreover,the results of the considered Rastall gravity radiation field are consistent with the constraints of the gravitational lensing of the host galaxy on Rastall gravity parameters,thereby enhancing the consistency between theoretical predictions and actual observations.

Structure of neutrino-dominated accretion disks with magnetic fields

The neutrino-dominated disk is regarded as a plausible model for the central engine of Gamma-Ray Bursts. By taking into account magnetic fields and detailed microphysics, we calculate the structure of neutrino-dominated disks in the frame of the well-known Paczy nski-Witta potential. The results show that the temperature of the disk is lower than that without magnetic fields, whereas the density is nearly the same as that without magnetic fields. There also exists a significant difference in the electron degeneracy between the above two cases. In addition, we present the variation of the electron fraction with the radius.

Thin accretion disk around a four-dimensional Einstein- Gauss-Bonnet black hole

Recently,a novel four-dimensional Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet(4 EGB) theory of gravity was proposed by Glavan and Lin [D.Glavan and C.Lin,Phys.Rev.Lett.124,081301(2020)],which includes a regularized GaussBonnet term using the re-scalaring of the Gauss-Bonnet coupling constant α→α/(D-4) in the limit D→4.This theory has also been reformulated to a specific class of the Homdeski theory with an additional scalar degree of freedom and to a spatial covariant version with a Lagrangian multiplier,which can eliminate the scalar mode.Here,we study the physical properties of the electromagnetic radiation emitted from a thin accretion disk around a static spherically symmetric black hole in 4 EGB gravity.For this purpose,we assume the disk is in a steady-state and in hydrodynamic and thermodynamic equilibrium,so that the emitted electromagnetic radiation is a black body spectrum.We study in detail the effects of the Gauss-Bonnet coupling constant α in 4 EGB gravity on the energy flux,temperature distribution,and electromagnetic spectrum of the disk.With an increase in the parameter α,the energy flux,temperature distribution,and electromagnetic spectrum of the accretion disk all increase.We also show that the accretion efficiency increases with the growth of the parameter α.Our results indicate that the thin accretion disk around a static spherically symmetric black hole in 4 EGB gravity is hotter,more luminous,and more efficient than that around a Schwarzschild black hole with the same mass for positive α,while it is cooler,less luminous,and less efficient for negative α.

The Spin Measurement of MAXI J0637-430:a Black Hole Candidate with High Disk Density

The Galactic black hole candidate MAXI J0637-430 was first discovered by MAXI/GSC on 2019 November 2.We study the spectral properties of MAXI J0637-430 by using the archived NuSTAR data and Swift/XRT data.After fitting the eight spectra by using a disk component and a powerlaw component model with absorption,we select the spectra with relatively strong reflection components for detailed X-ray reflection spectroscopy.Using the most state-of-art reflection model,relxillCp,the spectral fitting measures a black hole spin a_(*)>0.72 and the inclination angle of the accretion disk i=46.1_(-5.3)^(+4.0)degrees,at a 90%confidence level.In addition,the fitting results show an extreme supersolar iron abundance.Combined with the fitting results of reflection model reflionx_hd,we consider that this unphysical iron abundance may be caused by a very high-density accretion disk(n_(e)>2.34×10^(21)cm^(-3))or a strong Fe K_(α) emission line.The soft excess is found in the soft state spectral fitting results,which may be an extra free-free heating effect caused by high density of the accretion disk.Finally,we discuss the robustness of black hole spin obtained by X-ray reflection spectroscopy.The result of relatively high spin is self-consistent with broadened Fe K_(α) line.Iron abundance and disk density have no effect on the spin results.

A Possible X-ray Quasi-periodic Oscillation in the Narrow-line Seyfert 1 Galaxy Mrk 142

A possible quasi-periodic oscillation(QPO) at frequency 7.045 × 10^(-5) Hz is found in the narrow-line Seyfert 1galaxy Mrk 142 in the data of XMM-Newton collected on 2020 April 11.We find that the QPO signal is statistically significantly larger than the 5σ level and highly coherent with quality factor Q > 5 at the 0.3–10 keV band by using the method of the Lomb–Scargle Periodogram,the Weighted Wavelet Z-transform and the REDFIT.We analyze the data in 0.3–0.6 keV,0.6–1 keV,1–3 keV and 3–10 keV energy bands,and find obvious QPO signals at 0.3–0.6 keV and 1–3 keV bands.We then analyze the time-average spectra and time variability at the QPO frequency of 7.045 × 10^(-5) Hz,and use a model to fit them.We find that the QPO signal mainly comes from the X-ray hot corona.

Timing and Spectral Analysis of the Black Hole X-Ray Binary MAXI J1803-298 with Insight-HXMT Data

We present a comprehensive analysis of the 2021 outburst of MAXI J1803–298 utilizing observations of the Insight-Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope(Insight-HXMT)spanning from the low hard state to the high soft state.Within the Insight-HXMT data set,compared to the previous work,we identify a more prolonged presence of typeC quasi-periodic oscillations(QPOs)with centroid frequencies ranging from~0.16 to 6.3 Hz,which present correlations with the hardness ratio and the photon index of the Comptonized component.For QPO frequencies less than~2 Hz,the QPO phase lags are hard(photons of 10–19 keV arrive later than those of 1–4 keV),while at higher frequencies,the lags become soft at and above~4 Hz.Furthermore,the spectra in all Insight-HXMT observations consist of a multi-color blackbody component and a Comptonized component,as commonly observed in classical black hole X-ray binaries.We analyze state transitions and the evolution of accretion geometry in this work.The fitted inner disk radius increases abnormally during the low hard state,hypothesized to result from the corona condensing onto the inner disk.Additionally,two significant drops in flux are observed during the soft intermediate state,maybe implying changes in the corona/jet and the disk,respectively.