Related papers: Variability in black hole accretion discs
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 discuss the problem of the formation of a large-scale magnetic field in the accretion disks around black holes, taking into account the nonuniform vertical structure of the disk. The high electrical conductivity of the outer layers of…
Black hole binary transients undergo dramatic evolution in their X-ray timing and spectral behaviour during outbursts. In recent years a paradigm has arisen in which "soft" X-ray states are associated with an inner disc radius at, or very…
We describe the most general nature of accretion and wind flows around a compact object and emphasize on the properties which are special to black hole accretion. The angular momentum distribution in the most general solution is far from…
The standard thin accretion disc model predicts that discs around stellar mass black holes become radiation pressure dominated and thermally unstable once their luminosity exceeds L>0.02 L_Edd. Observationally, discs in the high/soft state…
(Abridged) Recent XMM-Newton studies of X-ray variability in the hard states of black hole X-ray binaries (BHXRBs) imply that the variability is generated in the 'standard' optically-thick accretion disc. The variability originates in the…
We perform magnetohydrodynamic simulations of accreting, equal-mass binary black holes in full general relativity focusing on the effect of spin and minidisks on the accretion rate and Poynting luminosity variability. We report on the…
We present numerical simulations of misaligned discs around a spinning black hole covering a range of parameters. Previous simulations have shown that discs that are strongly warped by a forced precession -- in this case the Lense-Thirring…
Geometrically thick disks may form after tidal disruption events, and rapid accretion may lead to short flares followed by long-term, lower-level emission. Using a novel accretion disk code which relies primarily on global conservation laws…
We explore the presence of torques at the inner edges of geometrically-thin black hole accretion disks using 3-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations in a pseudo-Newtonian potential. By varying the saturation level of the…
A disk wind can cause perturbations that propagate throughout the disk via diffusive processes. On reaching the inner disk, these perturbations can change the disk luminosity, which in turn, can change the wind mass loss rate, $\dot{M}_w$.…
(abridged) We review how the recent increase in X-ray and radio data from black hole and neutron star binaries can be merged together with theoretical advances to give a coherent picture of the physics of the accretion flow in strong…
The evolution of an accretion disk can be influenced significantly by the deposition of mass and angular momentum by an infalling Bondi-Hoyle wind. Such a mass influx impacts the long-term behavior of the disk by providing additional…
We present a model for the short timescale spectral variability of accreting black holes. It describes well the time-averaged spectra as well as temporal characteristics such as power-density spectrum, time/phase lags, and coherence…
This thesis investigates phenomena occurring in black-hole accretion discs which are likely to induce high-frequency quasi-periodic variability. Two classes of pseudo-relativistic theoretical models are studied. The first is based on the…
Powerful winds at accretion-disk scales have been observed in the past 20 years in many AGN. These are the so-called ultrafast outflows (UFOs). Outflows are intimately related to mass accretion through the conservation of angular momentum,…
The variability of the Fe K alpha line near 6.5 keV seems to be reduced compared to the variability of the hard X-rays which presumably drive the line emission. This is observed both in active galactic nuclei and galactic black hole…
Super-Eddington accretion discs with 3 and 15 dot M_E around black holes with mass 10 M_sun are examined by two-dimensional radiation hydrodynamical calculations extending from the inner disc edge to 5*10^4 r_g and lasting up to \sim 10^6…
Disc spectra from highly luminous black hole binaries are observed to be rather simple, despite theoretical predictions to the contrary. We collate the disc-dominated spectra from multiple observations of 10 separate sources, and show that…
We present a numerical study of the global modes of oscillation of thick accretion discs around black holes. We have previously studied the case of constant distributions of specific angular momentum. In this second paper, we investigate…