arXiv subjects

Qi-Xiu Li

Publications and source records attributed to Qi-Xiu Li.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2021

Magnetohydrodynamic Winds Driven by the Line Force from the Standard Thin Disk around Supermassive Black Holes. I. The Case of Weak Magnetic Field

Absorption lines with high blue-shifted velocities are frequently found in the ultraviolet (UV) and X-ray spectra of luminous active galactic nuclei (AGNs). This implies that high-velocity winds/outflows are common in AGNs. In order to study the formation of high-velocity winds, especially ultrafast outflows (UFOs), we perform two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations. Initially, a magnetic field is set to be weaker than the gas pressure at the disk surface. In our simulations, line force operates on the region like filaments because the X-ray radiation from corona is shielded by dense gas in the inner region at some angle. The location of filaments changes with time and then the line-driven winds are exposed to X-ray and become highly ionized. The line force at the UV bands does not directly drive the highly ionized winds. In the sense of time average, the properties of high-velocity winds meet the formation condition of UFOs. Compared with line force, the function of magnetic field is negligible in directly driving winds. In the MHD model, the region around the rotational axis becomes magnetic-pressure dominated, which prevents gases from spreading to higher latitudes and then enhances the gas column density at middle and low latitudes (20$^{\rm o}$--70$^{\rm o}$). Higher column density is helpful to shield X-ray photons, which causes the line force to be more effective in the MHD model than in the hydrodynamic model. Higher-velocity winds with a broader opening angle are produced in the MHD model.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2019

Magnetohydrodynamic numerical simulation of the outflows driven by magnetic field and radiation force from the corona above a thin disk

A hot corona is suggested to be above the standard thin disk. The anisotropy of hard X-ray emission in radio-quiet active galactic nuclei implies that the corona is not static and probably moves outwards like winds. We perform two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamical simulations to study the outflowing corona driven by magnetic field and radiation force. In our simulations, as the initial state and the boundary condition at the disk surface, the corona temperature is set to $10^9$ K inside 10 Schwarzschild radius ($r_{\rm s}$) while the corona temperature is set to $10^7$ K a 10 $r_{\rm s}$. We employ a weak poloidal magnetic field as the initial magnetic field. A collimated outflow and a wide-angle ordered outflow are observed in our simulations. The collimated outflow is around the rotational axis and has a bulk velocity of $\sim$0.03--0.3 $c$ ( $c$ is speed of light) at 90 $r_{\rm s}$, while their mass outflow rate is very low. The collimated outflow is a weak jet. The wide-angle ordered outflow is distributed at the middle and high latitudes and moves outwards with a velocity of $10^2$--$10^4$ km s$^{-1}$. The outflow velocity depends on the disk luminosity. The gas around the disk surface is turbulent, especially outside of 10 $r_{\rm s}$. The other properties of outflows are discussed in detail.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2018

Numerical simulations of winds driven by radiation force from the corona above a thin disk

Observations show that winds can be driven from the innermost region (inside a 50 Schwarschild radius) of a thin disk. It is interesting to study the winds launched from the innermost region. A hot corona above the black hole (BH) thin disk is irradiated by the disk. We perform two-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations to study the winds driven by radiation force from the corona in the innermost regions. The hard X-ray spectrum from active galactic nuclei (AGNs) suggests that the corona temperature is about $10^9$ K, so that we mainly analyze the properties of winds (or outflows) from the $10^9$ K corona. The disk luminosity plays an important role in driving the outflows. The more luminous the disk, the stronger the outflows. Mass outflow rate ($\dot{M}_{\rm out}$) at a 90 Schwarschild radius depends on disk luminosity, which can be described as $\dot{M}_{\rm out}\propto 10^{3.3 Γ}$ ($Γ$ is the ratio of the disk luminosity to the Eddington luminosity). In the case of high luminosity (e.g. $Γ=0.75$), the supersonic outflows with maximum speed $1.0 \times 10^4$ Km s$^{-1}$ are launched at $\sim17^{o}$ --$30^{o}$ and $\sim50^{o}$ --$80^{o}$ away from the pole axis. The Bernoulli parameter keeps increasing with the outward propagation of outflows. The radiation force keeps accelerating the outflows when outflows move outward. Therefore, we can expect the outflows to escape from the BH gravity and go to the galactic scale. The interaction between outflows and interstellar medium may be an important AGN feedback process.

astro-ph.HE↗