Related papers: The Magnetoviscous-thermal Instability
It is commonly believed that accretion discs are truncated and their inner regions are described by advection dominated accretion flows (ADAFs) in the hard spectral state of black hole X-ray binaries. However, the increasing occurrence of a…
We present axisymmetric numerical simulations of radiatively inefficient accretion flows onto black holes combining general relativity, magnetohydrodynamics, self-consistent electron thermodynamics, and frequency-dependent radiation…
The low-luminosity black hole Sgr A* provides a testbed for models of Radiatively Inefficient Accretion Flows (RIAFs). Recent sub-millimeter linear polarization measurements of Sgr A* have provided evidence that the electrons in the…
The radio source Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), is thought to be a supermassive black hole located at the centre of our Galaxy, that is accreting gas from the surrounding region. Using the high inferred accretion rates, however, standard…
We investigate radiatively inefficient accretion flow models for Sgr A*, the supermassive black hole in our Galactic Center, in light of new observational constraints. Confirmation of linear polarization in the submm emission argues for…
Black hole accretion flows can be divided into two broad classes: cold and hot. Cold accretion flows, which consist of cool optically thick gas, are found at relatively high mass accretion rates. Prominent examples are the standard thin…
Advection-dominated, high-temperature, quasi-spherical accretion flow onto a compact object, recently considered by a number of authors, assume that the dissipation of turbulent energy of the flow heats the ions and that the dissipated…
We briefly review recent developments in black hole accretion disk theory, placing new emphasis on the vital role played by magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) stresses in transporting angular momentum. The apparent universality of accretion-related…
The status of our current understanding of angular momentum transport in accretion disks is reviewed. The last decade has seen a dramatic increase both in the recognition of key physical processes and in our ability to carry through direct…
Most black holes possess accretion disks. Models of such disks inform observations and constrain the properties of the black holes and their surrounding medium. Here, we study isothermal shocks in a thin black hole accretion flow. Modelling…
We consider time-dependent models for rotating accretion flows onto black holes, where a transition takes place from an outer cooling-dominated disc to a radiatively inefficient flow in the inner region. In order to allow for a transition…
We present a comprehensive analysis of super-Eddington black hole accretion simulations that solve the GRMHD equations coupled with angle-discretized radiation transport. The simulations span a range of accretion rates, two black hole…
We present the critical conditions for hot trans-fast magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) flows in a stationary and axisymmetric black-hole magnetosphere. To accrete onto the black hole, the MHD flow injected from a plasma source with low velocity…
We discuss the issues of stability of accretion disks that may undergo the limit-cycle oscillations due to the two main types of thermal-viscous instabilities. These are induced either by the domination of radiation pressure in the…
We describe new optically thin solutions for rotating accretion flows around black holes and neutron stars. These solutions are advection dominated, so that most of the viscously dissipated energy is advected radially with the flow. We…
The black hole in our Galactic Center is extremely underluminous for the amount of hot gas available for accretion. Theoretical understanding of this fact rests on a likely but not entirely certain assumption that the electrons in the…
The supermassive black hole in the center of our Galaxy, Sgr A*, is unique because the angular size of the black hole is the largest in the sky thus providing detailed boundary conditions on, and much less freedom for, accretion flow…
A long-standing question is whether radiative cooling can lead to local condensations of cold gas in the hot atmospheres of galaxies and galaxy clusters. We address this problem by studying the nature of local instabilities in rotating,…
Diffuse accretion flows near a supermassive black hole are fundamentally weakly collisional. In such weakly collisional plasmas, the ion and electron distribution functions can deviate significantly from thermal equilibrium, and particle…
(Abridged) We study stability of gas accretion in Active Galactic Nuclei. Our grid based simulations cover a radial range from 0.1 to 200 pc. Here, as in previous studies by our group, we include gas radiative cooling as well as heating by…