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arXiv · 1811.06971

GRRMHD Simulations of Tidal Disruption Event Accretion Disks around Supermassive Black Holes: Jet Formation, Spectra, and Detectability

Brandon Curd·Ramesh Narayan
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Abstract

We report results from general relativistic radiation MHD (GRRMHD) simulations of a super-Eddington black hole (BH) accretion disk formed as a result of a tidal disruption event (TDE). We consider the fiducial case of a solar mass star on a mildly penetrating orbit disrupted by a supermassive BH of mass $10^6 \, M_\odot$, and consider the epoch of peak fall back rate. We post-process the simulation data to compute viewing angle dependent spectra. We perform a parameter study of the dynamics of the accretion disk as a function of BH spin and magnetic flux, and compute model spectra as a function of the viewing angle of the observer. We also consider detection limits based on the model spectra. We find that an accretion disk with a relatively weak magnetic field around the BH (so-called SANE regime of accretion) does not launch a relativistic jet, whether or not the BH is rotating. Such models reasonably reproduce several observational properties of non-jetted TDEs. The same is also true for a non-rotating BH with a strong magnetic field (MAD regime). One of our simulations has a rapidly rotating BH (spin parameter 0.9) as well as a MAD accretion disk. This model launches a powerful relativistic jet, which is powered by the BH spin energy. It reproduces the high energy emission and jet structure of the jetted TDE Swift J1644+57 surprisingly well. Jetted TDEs may thus correspond to the subset of TDE systems that have both a rapidly spinning BH and MAD accretion.

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Brandon Curd, Ramesh Narayan. 2018-11-16. GRRMHD Simulations of Tidal Disruption Event Accretion Disks around Supermassive Black Holes: Jet Formation, Spectra, and Detectability. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras%2Fsty3134

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