Related papers: Kinetic and radiative power from optically thin ac…
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…
In the collisionless plasmas of radiatively inefficient accretion flows, heating and acceleration of ions and electrons is not well understood. Recent studies in the gyrokinetic limit revealed the importance of incorporating both the…
Simple assumptions made regarding electron thermodynamics often limit the extent to which general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations can be applied to observations of low-luminosity accreting black holes. We present,…
We present the largest 3D Particle-in-Cell shearing-box simulations of turbulence driven by the magnetorotational instability, for the first time employing the realistic proton-to-electron mass ratio. We investigate the energy partition…
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 disc model in steady…
We present a numerical method which evolves a two-temperature, magnetized, radiative, accretion flow around a black hole, within the framework of general relativistic radiation magnetohydrodynamics. As implemented in the code KORAL, the gas…
In the innermost regions of low-luminosity accretion flows, including Sgr A* at the center of our Galaxy, the frequency of Coulomb collisions is so low that the plasma is two-temperature, with the ions substantially hotter than the…
The recent 230 GHz observations from the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration have successfully imaged the supermassive black hole shadow of the M87 galaxy. However, the relatively high radiative efficiency observed in the hot accretion…
We present the first results from two-dimensional simulations of radiatively-efficient accretion of metal-free gas onto intermediate-mass black holes. We fix the shape of the spectral energy distribution of the radiation produced near the…
Multi-wavelength observations suggest that the accretion disk in the hard and intermediate states of X-ray binaries (XRBs) and active galactic nuclei (AGN) transitions from a cold, thin disk at large distances into a hot, thick flow close…
Two significant progresses have been made in the past years on our understanding of hot accretion flows. One is that only a small fraction of accretion flow available at the outer boundary can finally falls onto the black hole while most of…
We present global radiation GRMHD simulations of strongly magnetized accretion onto a spinning, stellar mass black hole at sub-Eddington rates. Using a frequency-dependent Monte Carlo procedure for Compton scattering, we self-consistently…
Simplified assumptions about the thermodynamics of the electrons are normally employed in general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations of accretion onto black holes. To counter this, we have developed a self-consistent…
We study energy flows in geometrically thick accretion discs, both optically thick and thin, using general relativistic, three-dimensional simulations of black hole accretion flows. We find that for non-rotating black holes the efficiency…
General relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations of black hole tilted disks -- where the angular momentum of the accretion flow at large distances is misaligned with respect to the black hole spin -- commonly display standing…
Recent general relativistic magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of accretion onto black holes have shown that, contrary to the basic assumptions of the Novikov-Thorne model, there can be substantial magnetic stress throughout the…
Plasmas in an accretion flow are heated by MHD turbulence generated through the magneto-rotational instability. The viscous stress driving the accretion is intimately connected to the microscopic processes of turbulence dissipation. We show…
Local (shearing box) simulations of the nonlinear evolution of the magnetorotational instability in a collisionless plasma show that angular momentum transport by pressure anisotropy ($p_\perp \ne p_\parallel$, where the directions are…
Cooling flows in galaxy clusters and isolated elliptical galaxies are a source of mass for fueling accretion onto a central supermassive black hole. We calculate the dynamics of accreting matter in the combined gravitational potential of a…
I present results from numerical simulations of gas dynamics outside luminous accretion disks in active galactic nuclei. The gas, gravitationally captured by a super massive black hole, can be driven away by the energy and momentum of the…