arXiv subjects

Masaaki Takahashi

Publications and source records attributed to Masaaki Takahashi.

35 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Perturbing Monopolar Force-Free Magnetospheres to Slowly Rotating Black Holes

We study the effects of frame-dragging on the structure of force-free magnetospheres around rotating black holes. For slowly rotating black holes, analytic explorations often focus on transforming an exact force-free solution applicable to a static black hole into a solution approximately applicable to a slowly-rotating black hole via perturbations in black hole spin. We show that the single perturbed monopolar solution most commonly arrived at using such techniques is in fact a separatrix between two broad classes of solutions: those with poloidal magnetic fields that bend upwards towards the azimuthal axis and those that bend downwards towards the equatorial plane. This is because frame-dragging affects the toroidal magnetic field distributions, changing the force balance between poloidal magnetic field lines.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2018

Particle acceleration by ion-acoustic solitons in plasma

We propose a new acceleration mechanism for charged particles by using cylindrical or spherical non-linear acoustic waves propagating in ion-electron plasma. The acoustic wave, which is described by the cylindrical or spherical Kortweg-de Vries equation, grows in its wave height as the wave shrinks to the center. Charged particles confined by the electric potential accompanied with the shrinking wave get energy by repetition of reflections. We obtain power law spectrums of energy for accelerated particles. As an application, we discuss briefly that high energy particles coming from the Sun are produced by the present mechanism.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

Radial Velocity Measurements of an Orbiting Star Around Sgr A*

During the next closest approach of the orbiting star S2/S0-2 to the Galactic supermassive black hole (SMBH), it is estimated that RV uncertainties of ~ 10 km/s allow us to detect post-Newtonian effects throughout 2018. To evaluate an achievable uncertainty in RV and its stability, we have carried out near-infrared, high resolution (R ~ 20,000) spectroscopic monitoring observations of S2 using the Subaru telescope and the near-infrared spectrograph IRCS from 2014 to 2016. The Br-gamma absorption lines are used to determine the RVs of S2. The RVs we obtained are 497 km/s, 877 km/s, and 1108 km/s in 2014, 2015, and 2016, respectively. The statistical uncertainties are derived using the jackknife analysis. The wavelength calibrations in our three-year monitoring are stable: short-term (hours to days) uncertainties in RVs are < 0.5 km/s, and a long-term (three years) uncertainty is 1.2 km/s. The uncertainties from different smoothing parameter, and from the partial exclusion of the spectra, are found to be a few km/s. The final results using the Br-gamma line are 497 +- 17 (stat.) +- 3 (sys.) km/s in 2014, 877 +- 15 (stat.) +- 4 (sys.) km/s in 2015, and 1108 +- 12 (stat.) +- 4 (sys.) km/s in 2016. When we use two He I lines at 2.113\mum in addition to Br-gamma, the mean RVs are 513 km/s and 1114 km/s for 2014 and 2016, respectively. The standard errors of the mean are 16.2 km/s (2014) and 5.4 km/s (2016), confirming the reliability of our measurements. The difference between the RVs estimated by Newtonian mechanics and general relativity will reach about 200 km/s near the next pericenter passage in 2018. Therefore our RV uncertainties of 13 - 17 km/s with Subaru enable us to detect the general relativistic effects in the RV measurements with more than 10 sigma in 2018.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2017

Analog rotating black holes in a magnetohydrodynamic inflow

We present a model of the analog geometry in a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow. For the MHD flow with magnetic pressure-dominated and gas pressure-dominated conditions, we obtain the magnetoacoustic metric for the fast MHD mode. For the slow MHD mode, on the other hand, the wave is governed by the advective-type equation without an isotropic dispersion term. Thus, the "distance" perpendicular to the wave propagation is not defined and the magnetoacoustic metric cannot be introduced. To investigate the properties of the magnetoacoustic geometry for the fast mode, we prepare a two-dimensional axisymmetric inflow and examine the behavior of magnetoacoustic rays which is a counterpart of the MHD waves in the eikonal limit. We find that the magnetoacoustic geometry is classified into three types depending on two parameters characterizing the background flow:~analog spacetimes of rotating black holes, ultra spinning stars with ergoregions, and spinning stars without ergoregions. We address the effects of the magnetic pressure on the effective geometries.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2017

Effects of Inner Alfvén Surface Location on Black Hole Energy Extraction in the Limit of a Force-Free Magnetosphere

An energy extracting black hole magnetosphere can be defined by the location of its inner Alfvén surface, which determines the rate of black hole energy extraction along a given magnetic field line. We study how the location of the inner Alfvén surface can modify the structure of energy extracting black hole magnetospheres in the force-free limit. Hundreds of magnetospheres are numerically computed via a general relativistic extension of the Newtonian magnetofrictional method for a full range of black hole spins and flow parameters. We find that jet-like structures naturally form very close to the horizon for Alfvén surfaces near the boundary of the ergosphere and that energy is extracted towards the equatorial plane for Alfvén surfaces close to the horizon. This suggests that two broad classes of energy extracting black hole magnetospheres might exist; those that transmit extracted energy directly to distant observers, and those that transmit extracted energy to nearby accreting matter. Applied to transient high energy phenomena, we find that they might also differ in timescale by a factor of 20 or more.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2016

Soft X-Ray Excess from Shocked Accreting Plasma in Active Galactic Nuclei

We propose a novel theoretical model to describe a physical identity of the soft X-ray excess, ubiquitously detected in many Seyfert galaxies, by considering a steady-state, axisymmetric plasma accretion within the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) around a black hole (BH) accretion disk. We extend our earlier theoretical investigations on general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) accretion which has implied that the accreting plasma can develop into a standing shock for suitable physical conditions causing the downstream flow to be sufficiently hot due to shock compression. We numerically calculate to examine, for sets of fiducial plasma parameters, a physical nature of fast MHD shocks under strong gravity for different BH spins. We show that thermal seed photons from the standard accretion disk can be effectively Compton up-scattered by the energized sub-relativistic electrons in the hot downstream plasma to produce the soft excess feature in X-rays. As a case study, we construct a three-parameter Comptonization model of inclination angle $θ_{\rm obs}$, disk photon temperature $kT_{\rm in}$ and downstream electron energy $kT_e$ to calculate the predicted spectra in comparison with a 60 ks {\it XMM-Newton}/EPIC-pn spectrum of a typical radio-quiet Seyfert 1 AGN, Ark~120. Our $χ^2$-analyses demonstrate that the model is plausible in successfully describing data for both non-spinning and spinning BHs with the derived range of $61.3~{\rm keV} \lesssim kT_e \lesssim 144.3~{\rm keV}$, $21.6~{\rm eV} \lesssim kT_{\rm in} \lesssim 34.0~{\rm eV}$ and $17.5\degr \lesssim θ_{\rm obs} \lesssim 42.6\degr$ indicating a compact Comptonizing region of $3-4$ gravitational radii that resembles the putative X-ray coronae.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2013

Flaring up of the Compact Cloud G2 during the Close Encounter with Sgr A*

A compact gas cloud G2 is predicted to reach the pericenter of its orbit around the super massive black hole (SMBH) of our galaxy, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). This event will give us a rare opportunity to observe the interaction between SMBH and gas around it. We report the result of the fully three-dimensional simulation of the evolution of G2 during the first pericenter passage. The strong tidal force by the SMBH stretches the cloud along its orbit, and compresses it strongly in the vertical direction, resulting in the heating up and flaring up of the cloud. The bolometric luminosity will reach the maximum of $\sim100 L_{\odot}$. This flare should be easily observed in the near infrared.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2010

Black Hole Aurora powered by a Rotating Black Hole

We present a model for high-energy emission sources generated by a standing magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) shock in a black hole magnetosphere. The black hole magnetosphere would be constructed around a black hole with an accretion disk, where a global magnetic field could be originated by currents in the accretion disk and its corona. Such a black hole magnetosphere may be considered as a model for the central engine of active galactic nuclei, some compact X-ray sources and gamma-ray bursts. The energy sources of the emission from the magnetosphere are the gravitational and electromagnetic energies of magnetized accreting matters and the rotational energy of a rotating black hole. When the MHD shock generates in MHD accretion flows onto the black hole, the plasma's kinetic energy and hole's rotational energy can convert to radiative energy. In this letter, we demonstrate the huge energy output at the shock front by showing negative energy postshock accreting MHD flows for a rapidly rotating black hole. This means that the extracted energy from the black hole can convert to the radiative energy at the MHD shock front. When axisymmetric shock front is formed, we expect a ring-shaped region with very hot plasma near the black hole; the look would be like an "aurora". The high energy radiation generated from there would carry to us the information for the curved spacetime due to the strong gravity.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2010

Anisotropic radiation field and trapped photons around the Kerr black hole

Aims. In order to understand the anisotropic properties of local radiation field in the curved spacetime around a rotating black hole, we investigate the appearance of a black hole seen by an observer located near the black hole. When the black hole is in front of a source of illumination the black hole cast shadow in the illumination. Accordingly, the appearance of the black hole is called the black hole shadow. Methods. We first analytically describe the shape of the shadow in terms of constants of motion for a photon seen by the observer in the locally non-rotating reference frame (LNRF). Then, we newly derive the useful equation for the solid angle of the shadow. In a third step, we can easily plot the apparent image of the black hole shadow. Finally, we also calculate the ratio of the photon trapped by the hole and the escape photon to the distant region for photons emitted near the black hole. Results. From the shape and the size of the black hole shadow, we can understand the signatures of the curved spacetime; i.e., the mass and spin of the black hole. Our equations for the solid angle of the shadow has technical advantages in calculating the photon trapping ratio. That is, this equation is computationally very easy, and gives extremely precise results. This is because this equation is described by the one-parameter integration with given values of the spin and location for the black hole considered. After this, the solid angle can be obtained without numerical calculations of the null geodesics for photons.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2008

Chaotic motion of Charged Particles in an Electromagnetic Field Surrounding a Rotating Black Hole

The observational data from some black hole candidates suggest the importance of electromagnetic fields in the vicinity of a black hole. Highly magnetized disk accretion may play an importance rule, and large scale magnetic field may be formed above the disk surface. Then, we expect that the nature of the black hole spacetime would be reveiled by magnetic phenomena near the black hole. We will start to investigate the motion of a charged particle which depends on the initial parameter setting in the black hole dipole magnetic field. Specially, we study the spin effects of a rotating black hole on the motion of the charged particle trapped in magnetic field lines. We make detailed analysis for the particle's trajectories by using the Poincaré map method, and show the chaotic properties that depend on the black hole spin. We find that the dragging effects of the spacetime by a rotating black hole weaken the chaotic properties and generate regular trajectories for some sets of initial parameters, while the chaotic properties dominate on the trajectories for slowly rotating black hole cases. The dragging effects can generate the fourth adiabatic invariant on the particle motion approximately.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2008

Constraints on the Evolution of Black Hole Spin due to Magnetohydrodynamic Accretion

Stationary and axisymmetric ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) accretion onto a black hole is studied analytically. The accreting plasma ejected from a plasma source with low velocity must be super-fast magnetosonic before passing through the event horizon. We work out and apply a trans-fast magnetosonic solution without the detailed analysis of the regularity conditions at the magnetosonic point, by introducing the bending angle $β$ of magnetic field line, which is the ratio of the toroidal and poloidal components of the magnetic field. To accrete onto a black hole, the trans-magnetosonic solution has some restrictions on $β$, which are related to the field-aligned parameters of the MHD flows. One of the restrictions gives the boundary condition at the event horizon for the inclination of a magnetic field line. We find that this inclination is related to the energy and angular momentum transport to the black hole. Then, we discuss the spin-up/down process of a rotating black hole by cold MHD inflows in a secular evolution timescale. There are two asymptotic states for the spin evolution. One is that the angular velocity of the black hole approaches to that of the magnetic field line, and the other is that the spin-up effect by the positive angular momentum influx and the spin-down effect by the energy influx (as the mass-energy influx) are canceled. We also show that the MHD inflows prevents the evolution to the maximally rotating black hole.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2006

Magnetohydrodynamic Shocks in Non-Equatorial Plasma Flows around a Black Hole

We study magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) standing shocks in inflowing plasmas in a black hole magnetosphere. Fast and intermediate shock formation is explored in Schwarzschild and Kerr geometry to illustrate general relativistic effects. We find that non-equatorial standing MHD shocks are physically possible, creating a very hot plasma region close to the event horizon. Shocked downstream plasmas can be heated or magnetized depending on the values of various magnetic field-aligned parameters. Then we may expect high-energy thermal/nonthermal emissions from the shocked region. We present the properties of non-equatorial MHD shocks and discuss the shocked plasma region in the black hole magnetosphere. We also investigate the effects of the poloidal magnetic field and the black hole spin on the properties of shocks, and show that both effects can modify the distribution of the shock front and shock strength. We find for strong MHD shock formation that fast rotating magnetic fields are necessary. The physics of non-equatorial MHD shocks in the black hole magnetosphere could be very important when we are to construct the central engine model of various astrophysical phenomena.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2003

Relativistic Acceleration of Magnetically Driven Jets

We present an analytical model for describing highly relativistic acceleration of magnetically driven jets, within the framework of ideal MHD for cold, stationary and axisymmetric outflows. Our novel procedure is to treat the wind equation as an algebraic relation between the relativistic Alfvén Mach-number and the poloidal electric to toroidal magnetic field amplitudes ratio $ξ$. This allows us to obtain easily the wind solutions for trans-fast-magnetosonic flows, together with the required range of $ξ$. Then, to determine the spatial variation of $ξ$, we solve approximately the Grad-Shafranov equation applied to a jet flow ejected with a very large total specific energy $E$ and confined within a very small opening angle. Our trans-fast-magnetosonic model provides a closed-form expression for the transition from a magnetically dominated flow to a kinetic-energy dominated one, which occurs in the sub-asymptotic region far beyond the light cylinder of the radius $R_{\rm L}$. Importantly, we find that the equipartition between magnetic and kinetic energies is realized at a cylindrical radius of order of $R_{\rm L}E/c^{2}$, and confirm that the further conversion of magnetic to kinetic energy proceeds logarithmically with distance in the asymptotic region. Finally, we discuss briefly the astrophysical implications of our model for jets originating from active galactic nuclei.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2002

MHD Shock Conditions for Accreting Plasma onto Kerr Black Holes - I

We extend the work by Appl and Camenzind (1988) for special relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) jets, to fully general relativistic studies of the standing shock formation for accreting MHD plasma in a rotating, stationary and axisymmetric black hole magnetosphere. All the postshock physical quantities are expressed in terms of the relativistic compression ratio, which can be obtained in terms of preshock quantities. Then, the downstream state of a shocked plasma is determined by the upstream state of the accreting plasma. In this paper sample solutions are presented for slow magnetosonic shocks for accreting flows in the equatorial plane. We find that some properties of the slow magnetosonic shock for the rotating magnetosphere can behave like a fast magnetosonic shock. In fact, it is confirmed that in the limit of weak gravity for the upstream non-rotating accretion plasma where the magnetic field lines are leading and rotating, our results are very similar to the fast magnetosonic shock solution by Appl and Camenzind (1988). However, we find that the situation becomes far more complicated due to the effects of strong gravity and rotation, such as the frame dragging-effects. We show the tendency that the large spin of the black hole makes the slow magnetosonic shock strong for the accretion solutions with the same energy-flux.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2002

Trans-Magnetosonic Accretion in a Black Hole Magnetosphere

We present the critical conditions for hot trans-fast magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) flows in a stationary and axisymmetric black-hole magnetosphere. To accrete onto the black hole, the MHD flow injected from a plasma source with low velocity must pass through the fast magnetosonic point after passing through the ``inner'' or ``outer'' Alfven point. We find that a trans-fast MHD accretion solution related to the inner Alfven point is invalid when the hydrodynamical effects on the MHD flow dominate at the magnetosonic point, while the other accretion solution related to the outer Alfven point is invalid when the total angular momentum of the MHD flow is seriously large. When both regimes of the accretion solutions are valid in the black hole magnetosphere, we can expect the transition between the two regimes. The variety of these solutions would be important in many highly energetic astrophysical situations.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2001

Screw instability in black hole magnetospheres and a stabilizing effect of field-line rotation

The screw instability of magnetic field is a mechanism for prohibiting a generation of strongly twisted field lines in large scales. If it can work in black hole magnetospheres, the global axisymmetric structure and the main process of energy release will be significantly influenced. In this paper, we study the instability condition in the framework of the variational principle, paying special attention to a stabilizing effect due to field-line rotation against the screw-unstable modes satisfying the well-known Kruskal-Shafranov criterion. The basic formulation for the stability analysis of rotating force-free fields in Kerr geometry is provided. Then, for the practical use of the analytical method, the stationary configuration is assumed to be cylindrical, and we treat the long-wave mode perturbations excited at large distances from the central black hole, where the strength of gravity becomes negligibly small. This allows us to derive clearly the new criterion dependent on the rotational angular velocity of magnetic field lines, and the implications of the results obtained for magnetic activities of jets driven by a black hole are briefly discussed.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2001

Black Hole Magnetospheres Around Thin Disks Driving Inward and Outward Winds

We construct a simple model for stationary, axisymmetric black-hole magnetospheres, in which the poloidal magnetic field is generated by a toroidal electric current in a thin disk with the inner edge, by solving the vacuum Maxwell equations in Schwarzschild background. In this work, to obtain a concise analytical form of the magnetic stream function, we use the approximation that the inner edge is far distant from the event horizon. The global magnetospheric structure with the closed-loop and open field lines threading the inner and outer parts of the disk is explicitly shown, claiming that the model is useful as a starting point to study astrophysical problems involving inward disk-driven winds to a black hole and outward ones to infinity. The asymptotic shape of the field lines at the event horizon becomes nearly cylindrical, while at infinity it becomes conical. The magnetic spot in the disk connected with the black hole through the loop field lines occupies a very narrow region with the ring area roughly equal to the horizon area. By taking account of the existence of a uniform (external) magnetic field, we also obtain the model for collimated open field lines. Then, it is found that the magnetic connection between the black hole and the disk breaks down if the uniform field is strong enough. Considering slow rotation of the magnetosphere and angular momentum transfer by inward winds from the disk, the final discussion is devoted to gradual disruption of the closed loops due to radial accretion of disk plasma toward the black hole.

astro-ph↗