Warped accretion disks and the unification of Active Galactic Nuclei

Abstract

Orientation of parsec-scale accretion disks in AGN is likely to be nearly random for different black hole feeding episodes. Since AGN accretion disks are unstable to self-gravity on parsec scales, star formation in these disks will create young stellar disks, similar to those recently discovered in our Galactic Center. The disks blend into the quasi-spherical star cluster enveloping the AGN on time scales much longer than a likely AGN lifetime. Therefore, the gravitational potential within the radius of the black hole influence is at best axi-symmetric rather than spherically symmetric. Here we show that as a result, a newly formed accretion disk will be warped. For the simplest case of a potential resulting from a thin stellar ring, we calculate the disk precession rates, and the time dependent shape. We find that, for a realistic parameter range, the disk becomes strongly warped in few hundred orbital times. We suggest that this, and possibly other mechanisms of accretion disk warping, have a direct relevance to the problem of AGN obscuration, masing warped accretion disks, narrow Fe K-alpha lines, etc.