We report on the fourth phase of our study of slightly rotating accretion flows onto black holes. The main new element of this study is that we used fully three dimensional (3-D) numerical simulations. We consider hydrodynamics of inviscid accretion flows. We assume a spherically symmetric density distribution at the outer boundary, but brake the flow symmetry by introducing a small, latitude-dependent angular momentum. We also consider cases where angular momentum at large radii is latitude- and azimuth-dependent. For the latitude-dependent angular momentum, 3-D simulations confirm axisymmetric results: the material that has too much angular momentum to be accreted forms a thick torus near the equator. Consequently, accretion proceeds only through the polar funnel, and the mass accretion rate through the funnel is constrained by the size and shape of the torus, not by the outer conditions. In 3-D simulations, we found that the torus precesses, even for axisymmetric conditions at large radii. For the latitude and azimuth-dependent angular momentum, the non-rotating gas near the equator can also significantly affect the evolution of the rotating gas. In particular, it may prevent the formation of a proper torus (i.e. its closing, in the azimuthal direction). In such models, the mass accretion rate is only slightly less than the corresponding Bondi rate.
We measure and analyze the energy, momentum, and mass feedback efficiencies due to radiation from active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in relatively large-scale outflows (from ∼0.01 to ∼10 pc). Our measurements are based on the two-dimensional (axisymmetric) and time-dependent radiation–hydrodynamical simulations recently presented in Kurosawa & Proga. In that paper, we studied outflows from a slowly rotating (sub-Keplerian) infalling gas driven by the energy and pressure of the radiation emitted by the AGNs. These simulations follow the dynamics of gas under the influence of the gravity of the central 108 M☉ black hole (BH) on scales from ∼0.01 to ∼10 pc. They self-consistently couple the accretion luminosity with the mass inflow rate at the smallest radius (our proxy for the mass-accretion rate, ). Over 30 simulations have been performed to investigate how the results depend on the gas density at the outer radius, ρo. A key feature of these simulations is that the radiation field and consequently the gas dynamics are axisymmetric, but not spherically symmetric. Therefore, the gas inflow and outflow can occur at the same time. We compare our –ρo relation with that predicted by the Bondi accretion model. For high luminosities comparable to the Eddington limit, the power-law fit to our models yields q ≈ 0.5 instead of q = 1.0, which is predicted by the Bondi model. This difference is caused by the outflows which are important for the overall mass budget at high luminosities. The maximum momentum and mass feedback efficiencies found in our models are ∼10−2 and ∼10−1, respectively. However, the outflows are much less important energetically: the thermal and kinetic powers in units of the radiative luminosity are ∼10−5 and ∼10−4, respectively. In addition, the efficiencies do not increase monotonically with the accretion luminosity but rather peak around the Eddington limit beyond which a steady-state disk–wind-like solution exists. Our energy feedback efficiencies are significantly lower than 0.05, which is required in some cosmological and galaxy merger simulations. The low feedback efficiencies found here could have significant implications on the mass growth of super massive BHs in the early universe. We stress, however, that we have not considered the innermost parts of the accretion and outflow where radiation and matter interact most strongly. The feedback from this region could have efficiencies significantly above the low values found here.
Spectro-polarimetric observations of several young classical T Tauri stars (CTTSs) show that the magnetic field of stars may be complex, and can be represented as a superposition of dierent multipoles [1]. We use a “Cubed Sphere” code to perform global 3D MHD simulations of disk accretion onto stars with complex magnetic fields, and investigate matter flow around these stars [2, 3]. We observe that at large distances from the star, the dipole component often dominates and determines the disk-magnetosphere interaction. However, closer to the star, the higher-order multipoles dominate and determine the shapes of hot spots at the surface of the star. The model has been applied to a young star V 2129 Oph. To compare the results of our simulations with observation, we calculate hydrogen spectral lines from the magnetospheric flow, using the three-dimensional radiative transfer code TORUS [4]. The results of 3D MHD and 3D radiative transfer models are in good agreement with the observations [5]. In another set of 3D MHD simulations and 3D radiative transfer analysis, we investigate accretion onto a star with a dipole field in either stable or unstable regimes. We investigate the boundary between these two regimes [6], and calculate the photometric and spectral properties of modeled stars [7]. We found that in the stable regime, the light-curves and spectral lines vary orderly in time with one or two peaks per period, while in the unstable regime, a stochastic light curve and stochastic spectral variability are observed, with several peaks per period.
We discuss the results of modelling of young magnetized stars, where matter flow is calculated using the three-dimensional (3D) magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) "Cubed Sphere" code, and the spectra are calculated using the 3D Monte Carlo radiative transfer code "TORUS". Two examples of modelling are shown: (1) accretion onto stars in stable and unstable regimes, and (2) accretion to a young star V2129 Oph, modelled with realistic parameters.
We present the results of a radial velocity (RV) survey of 14 brown dwarfs (BDs) and very low-mass (VLM) stars in the Upper Scorpius OB association (UScoOB) and 3 BD candidates in the rho Ophiuchi dark cloud core. We obtained high-resolution echelle spectra at the Very Large Telescope using Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph (UVES) at two different epochs for each object, and measured the shifts in their RVs to identify candidates for binary/multiple systems in the sample. The average time separation of the RV measurements is 21.6d, and our survey is sensitive to the binaries with separation < 0.1 au. We found that 4 out of 17 objects (or 24^{+16}_{-13} per cent by fraction) show a significant RV change in 4-33d time scale, and are considered as binary/multiple `candidates.' We found no double-lined spectroscopic binaries in our sample, based on the shape of cross-correlation curves. The RV dispersion of the objects in UScoOB is found to be very similar to that of the BD and VLM stars in Chamaeleon I (Cha I). We also found the distribution of the mean rotational velocities (v sin i) of the UScoOB objects is similar to that of the Cha I, but the dispersion of v sin i is much larger than that of the Cha I objects.
We present radiative transfer models of the circumstellar environment of classical T Tauri stars, concentrating on the formation of the H-alpha emission. The wide variety of line profiles seen in observations are indicative of both inflow and outflow, and we therefore employ a circumstellar structure that includes both magnetospheric accretion and a disc wind. We perform systematic investigations of the model parameters for the wind and the magnetosphere to search for possible geometrical and physical conditions which lead to the types of profiles seen in observations. We find that the hybrid models can reproduce the wide range of profile types seen in observations, and that the most common profile types observed occupy a large volume of parameter space. Conversely, the most infrequently observed profile morphologies require a very specific set of models parameters. We find our model profiles are consistent with the canonical value of the mass-loss rate to mass-accretion rate ratio (mu=0.1) found in earlier magneto-hydrodynamic calculations and observations, but the models with 0.05
Classical T Tauri stars (CTTSs) are variable in different time-scales. One type of variability is possibly connected with the accretion of matter through the Rayleigh-Taylor instability that occurs at the interface between an accretion disc and a stellar magnetosphere. In this regime, matter accretes in several temporarily formed accretion streams or `tongues' which appear in random locations, and produce stochastic photometric and line variability. We use the results of global three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations of matter flows in both stable and unstable accretion regimes to calculate time-dependent hydrogen line profiles and study their variability behaviours. In the stable regime, some hydrogen lines (e.g. H-beta, H-gamma, H-delta, Pa-beta and Br-gamma) show a redshifted absorption component only during a fraction of a stellar rotation period, and its occurrence is periodic. However, in the unstable regime, the redshifted absorption component is present rather persistently during a whole stellar rotation cycle, and its strength varies non-periodically. In the stable regime, an ordered accretion funnel stream passes across the line of sight to an observer only once per stellar rotation period while in the unstable regime, several accreting streams/tongues, which are formed randomly, pass across the line of sight to an observer. The latter results in the quasi-stationarity appearance of the redshifted absorption despite the strongly unstable nature of the accretion. In the unstable regime, multiple hot spots form on the surface of the star, producing the stochastic light curve with several peaks per rotation period. This study suggests a CTTS that exhibits a stochastic light curve and a stochastic line variability, with a rather persistent redshifted absorption component, may be accreting in the unstable accretion regime.
We review recent axisymmetric and three-dimensional (3D) magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) numerical simulations of magnetospheric accretion, plasma-field interaction and outflows from the disk-magnetosphere boundary.
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