arXiv subjects

Zhao-Ming Gan

Publications and source records attributed to Zhao-Ming Gan.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2018

Stellar and AGN feedback in isolated early-type galaxies: the role in regulating star formation and ISM properties

Understanding how galaxies maintain the inefficiency of star formation with physically self-consistent models is a central problem for galaxy evolution. Although numerous theoretical models have been proposed in recent decades, the debate still exists. By means of high-resolution two-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations, we study the three feedback effects (the stellar wind heating, SNe feedback, and AGN feedback) in suppressing star formation activities on the evolution of early-type galaxies with different stellar masses. AGN feedback models are updated based on \citet{Yuan2018}. The gas sources comes exclusively from the mass losses of dying low-mass stars for most of our models. We find that SNe feedback can keep star formation at a significantly low level for low mass elliptical galaxies for a cosmological evolution time. For the high mass galaxies, AGN feedback can efficiently offset the radiative cooling and thus regulate the star formation activities. Such a suppression of star formation is extremely efficient in the inner region of the galaxies. AGB heating cannot account for this suppression for low and high mass galaxies. The X-ray temperature $T_{\rm X}$ and luminosity $L_{\rm X}$ of hot plasma can be in agreement with the observed data with the inclusion of effective feedback processes. These results thus suggest that we can use $T_{\rm X}$ and $L_{\rm X}$ to probe the role of different feedback processes. The inclusion of additional gas sources can make the mass scale between SNe and AGN feedback dominating in suppressing star formation decrease to an observationally inferred value of a few $10^{10}~M_{\odot}$.

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arXiv2018

Active Galactic Nuclei Feedback in an Elliptical Galaxy with the Most Updated AGN Physics (II): High-Angular Momentum Case

This is the second paper of our series of works of studying the effects of active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback on the cosmological evolution of an isolated elliptical galaxy by performing two-dimensional high-resolution hydrodynamical numerical simulations. In these simulations, the inner boundary is chosen so that the Bondi radius is resolved. Physical processes like star formation, SNe Ia and II are taken into account. Compared to previous works, the main improvements is that we adopt the most updated AGN physics, which is described in detail in the first paper of this series (Yuan et al. 2018, Paper I). These improvements include the discrimination of the two accretion modes of the central AGN and the most updated descriptions of the wind and radiation in the two modes. In Paper I, we consider the case that the specific angular momentum of the gas in the galaxy is very low. In this paper, we consider the case that the specific angular momentum of the gas is high. In the galactic scale, we adopt the gravitational torques raised due to non-axisymmetric structure in the galaxy as the mechanism of the transfer of angular momentum of gas, as proposed in some recent works. Since our simulations are axisymmetric, we make use of a parameterized prescription to mimic this mechanism. Same as Paper I, we investigate the AGN light curve, typical AGN lifetime, growth of the black hole mass, AGN duty-cycle, star formation, and the X-ray surface brightness of the galaxy. Special attention is paid to the effects of specific angular momentum of the galaxy on these properties. We find that some results are qualitatively similar to those shown in Paper I, while some results such as star formation and black hole growth do show a significant difference due to the mass concentration in the galactic disk as a consequence of galactic rotation.

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arXiv2018

Numerical study of active galactic nucleus feedback in an elliptical galaxy with {\it MACER}

This paper summarizes our recent works of studying AGN feedback in an isolated elliptical galaxy by performing high-resolution hydrodynamical numerical simulations. Bondi radius is resolved and the mass accretion rate of the black hole is calculated. The most updated AGN physics, namely the discrimination of cold and hot accretion modes and the exact descriptions of the AGN radiation and wind for a given accretion rate are adopted and their interaction with the gas in the host galaxy is calculated. Physical processes such as star formation and SNe feedback are taken into account. Consistent with observation, we find the AGN spends most of the time in the low-luminosity regime. AGN feedback overall suppresses the star formation; but depending on location in the galaxy and time, it can also enhance it. The light curve of specific star formation rate is not synchronous with the AGN light curve. We find that wind usually plays a dominant role in controlling the AGN luminosity and star formation, but radiation also cannot be neglected.

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arXiv2018

Active Galactic Nuclei Feedback in an Elliptical Galaxy with the Most Updated AGN Physics (I): Low-angular Momentum Case

We investigate the effects of AGN feedback on the cosmological evolution of an isolated elliptical galaxy by performing two-dimensional high-resolution hydrodynamical numerical simulations. The inner boundary of the simulation is chosen so that the Bondi radius is resolved. Compared to previous works, the two accretion modes, namely hot and cold, which correspond to different accretion rates and have different radiation and wind outputs, are carefully discriminated and the feedback effects by radiation and wind in each mode are taken into account. The most updated AGN physics, including the descriptions of radiation and wind from the hot accretion flows and wind from cold accretion disks, are adopted. Physical processes like star formation, Type Ia and Type II supernovae are taken into account. We study the AGN light curve, typical AGN lifetime, growth of the black hole mass, AGN duty-cycle, star formation, and the X-ray surface brightness of the galaxy. We compare our simulation results with observations and find general consistency. Comparisons with previous simulation works find significant differences, indicating the importance of AGN physics. The respective roles of radiation and wind feedbacks are examined and it is found that they are different for different problems of interest such as AGN luminosity and star formation. We find that it is hard to neglect any of them, so we suggest to use the names of "cold feedback mode" and "hot feedback mode" to replace the currently used ones.

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arXiv2017

On the wind production from hot accretion flows with different accretion rates

We perform two-dimensional simulations to study how the wind strength changes with accretion rate. We take into account bremsstrahlung, synchrotron radiation and the Comptonization. We find that when the accretion rate is low, radiative cooling is not important, the accretion flow is hot accretion flow. For the hot accretion flow, wind is very strong. The mass flux of wind can be $\sim 50\%$ of the mass inflow rate. When the accretion rate increases to a value at which radiative cooling rate is roughly equal to or slightly larger than viscous heating rate, cold clumps can form around the equatorial plane. In this case, the gas pressure gradient force is small and wind is very weak. Our results may be useful for the sub-grid model of active galactic nuclear feedback study.

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arXiv2016

Hot accretion flow with radiative cooling: state transitions in black hole X-ray binaries

We investigate state transitions in black hole X-ray binaries through different parameters by using two-dimensional axisymmetric hydrodynamical simulation method. For radiative cooling in hot accretion flow, we take into account the bremsstrahlung, synchrotron and synchrotron-self Comptonization self-consistently in the dynamics. Our main result is that the state transitions occur when the accretion rate reaches a critical value $\dot M \sim 3α \dot M_{\rm Edd}$, above which cold and dense clumpy/filamentary structures are formed, embedded within the hot gas. We argued this mode likely corresponds to the proposed two-phase accretion model, which may be responsible for the intermediate state of black hole X-ray binaries. When the accretion rate becomes sufficiently high, the clumpy/filamentary structures gradually merge and settle down onto the mid-plane. Eventually the accretion geometry transforms to a disc-corona configuration. In summary our results are consistent with the truncated accretion scenario for the state transition.

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arXiv2016

Magneto-hydrodynamical Numerical simulation of wind production from black hole hot accretion flows at very large radii

Numerical simulations of black hole hot accretion flows have shown the existence of strong wind. Those works focus only on the region close to black hole thus it is unknown whether or where the wind production stops at large radii. To address this question, Bu et al. (2016) have performed hydrodynamic (HD) simulations by taking into account the gravitational potential of both the black hole and the nuclear star clusters. The latter is assumed to be $\propto σ^2 \ln(r)$, with $σ$ being the velocity dispersion of stars and $r$ be the distance from the center of the galaxy. It was found that when the gravity is dominated by nuclear stars, i.e., outside of radius $R_A\equiv GM_{\rm BH}/σ^2$, winds can no longer be produced. That work, however, neglects the magnetic field, which is believed to play a crucial dynamical role in the accretion and thus must be taken into account. In this paper, we revisit this problem by performing magneto-hydrodynamical (MHD) simulations. We confirm the result of Bu et al. (2016), namely wind can't be produced at the region of $R>R_A$. Our result, combined with the results of Yuan et al. (2015), indicates that the formula describing the mass flux of wind $\dot{M}_{\rm wind}=\dot{M}_{\rm BH}(r/20r_s)$ can only be applied to the region where the black hole potential is dominant. Here $\dot{M}_{\rm BH}$ is the mass accretion rate at the black hole horizon and the value of $R_A$ is similar to the Bondi radius.

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arXiv2016

Hydrodynamical numerical simulation of wind production from black hole hot accretion flows at very large radii

Previous works show strong winds exist in hot accretion flows around black holes. Those works focus only on the region close to the black hole thus it is unknown whether or where the wind production stops at large radii. In this paper, we investigate this problem by hydrodynamical simulations. We take into account gravities of both the black hole and the nuclear star clusters. For the latter, we assume that the velocity dispersion of stars is a constant and its gravitational potential $\propto σ^2 \ln (r)$, where $σ$ is the velocity dispersion of stars and $r$ is the distance from the center of the galaxy. We focus on the region where the gravitational potential is dominated by the star cluster. We find, same as the accretion flow at small radii, the mass inflow rate decreases inward and the flow is convectively unstable. However, trajectory analysis shows that there is very few wind launched from the flow. Our result, combined with the results of Yuan et al. (2015), indicates that the mass flux of wind launched from hot accretion flow $\dot{M}_{\rm wind}=\dot{M}_{\rm BH}(r/20r_s)$, with $r\la R_A\equiv GM_{\rm BH}/σ^2$. Here $\dot{M}_{\rm BH}$ is accretion rate at black hole horizon. $R_A$ is similar to Bondi radius. We argue that the inward decrease of inflow rate is not because of mass loss via wind, but because of convective motion. The disappearance of wind outside of $R_A$ must be because of the change of the gravitational potential, but the exact reason remains to be probed.

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arXiv2009

A resonance model with magnetic connection for 3:2 HFQPO pairs in black hole binaries

We apply epicyclic resonances to the magnetic connection (MC) of a black hole (BH) with a relativistic accretion disc, interpreting the high frequency quasi-periodic oscillations (HFQPOs) with 3:2 pairs observed in three BH X-ray binaries. It turns out that the 3:2 HFQPO pairs are associated with the steep power-law states, and the severe damping can be overcome by transferring energy and angular momentum from a spinning BH to the inner disc in the MC process.

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arXiv2009

Energy dissipation and angular momentum transfer within a magnetically torqued accretion disc

We discuss transportation and redistribution of energy and angular momentum in the magnetic connection (MC) process and Blandford-Payne (BP) process. The MC results in readjusting the interior viscous torque, and its effects are operative not only in but also beyond the MC region. The BP process is invoked to transfer the "excessive" angular momentum from an accretion disc. In addition, we derive a criterion for the interior viscous torque to resolve the puzzle of the overall equilibrium of angular momentum in disc accretion. It turns out that the BP efficiency of extracting angular momentum and the intensity of the outflow are required to be greater than some critical values.

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arXiv2009

A Simplified Model of ADAF with the Jet Driven by the Large-Scale Magnetic Field

We propose a simplified model of outflow/jet driven by the Blandford-Payne (BP) process from advection dominated accretion flows (ADAF) and derive the expressions of the BP power and disk luminosity based on the conservation laws of mass, angular momentum and energy. We fit the 2--10 keV luminosity and kinetic power of 15 active galactic nucleus (AGNs) of sub-Eddington luminosity. It is found that there exists an anti-correlation between the accretion rate and the advection parameter, which could be used to explain the correlation between Eddington-scaled kinetic power and bolometric luminosity of the 15 samples. In addition, the Ledlow-Owen relation for FR I/II dichotomy is re-expressed in a parameter space consisting of logarithm of dimensionless accretion rate versus that of the BH mass. It turns out that the FR I/II dichotomy is determined mainly by the dimensionless accretion rate, being insensitive to the BH mass. And the dividing accretion rate is less than the critical accretion rate for ADAFs, suggesting that FR I sources are all in the ADAF state.

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arXiv2009

Magnetic connection and current distribution in black hole accretion discs

We discuss one of the possible origins of large-scale magnetic fields based on a continuous distribution of toroidal electric current flowing in the inner region of the disc around a Kerr black hole (BH) in the framework of general relativity. It turns out that four types of configuration of the magnetic connection (MC) are generated, i.e., MC of the BH with the remote astrophysical load (MCHL), MC of the BH with the disc (MCHD), MC of the plunging region with the disc (MCPD) and MC of the inner and outer disc regions (MCDD). It turns out that the Blandford-Znajek (BZ) process can be regarded as one type of MC, i.e., MCHL. In addition, we propose a scenario for fitting the quasi-periodic oscillations in BH binaries based on MCDD associated with the magnetic reconnection.

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arXiv2009

A Model of Magnetically Induced Disc-Corona for Black Hole Binaries

We propose a model of magnetic connection (MC) of a black hole with its surrounding accretion disc based on large-scale magnetic field. The MC gives rise to transport of energy and angular momentum between the black hole and the disc, and the closed field lines pipe the hot matter evaporated from the disc, and shape it in the corona above the disc to form a magnetically induced disc-corona system, in which the corona has the same configuration as the large-scale magnetic field. We numerically solve the dynamic equations in the context of the Kerr metric, in which the large-scale magnetic field is determined by dynamo process and equipartition between magnetic pressure and gas pressure. Thus we can obtain a global solution rather than assuming the distribution of large-scale magnetic field beforehand. The main MC effects lie in three aspects. (1) The rotational energy of a fast-spinning black hole can be extracted, enhancing the dissipation in the accretion disc, (2) the closed field lines provide a natural channel for corona matter escaping from disc and finally falling into black hole, and (3) the scope of the corona can be bounded by the conservation of magnetic flux. We simulate the high-energy spectra of this system by using Monte-Carlo method, and find that the relative hardness of the spectra decreases as accretion rate or black hole spin $a_*$ increases. We fit the typical X-ray spectra of three black-hole binaries (GRO J1655-40, XTE 1118+480 and GX 339-4) in the low/hard or very high state.

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arXiv2008

Association of the 3:2 HFQPO Pairs with the Broad Fe K Line in XTE J1550-564 and GRO J1655-40

Association of the high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillation (HFQPO) pairs with the broad Fe K line in XTE J1550-564 and GRO J1655-40 is discussed based on the magnetic coupling (MC) of a rotating black hole (BH) with its surrounding disc. The 3:2 HFQPO pairs are interpreted by virtue of the inner and outer hotspots arising from non-axisymmetric magnetic field, where the inner hotspot is produced by a torque exerted at the inner edge of the disc, and the outer hotspot is created by the screw instability of the large-scale magnetic field. The very steep emissivity index is created predominantly by the torque exerted at the inner edge of the disc. It turns out that the 3:2 HFQPO pairs observed in the two sources can be fitted by tuning several model parameters, such as the BH spin, and the main features of this model lie in three aspects. (1) The condition for only one HFQPO is discussed based on the two mechanisms for producing the 3:2 HFQPO pairs, (2) an explanation is given for a systematic shift away from disc dominated flux with the increasing power-law flux as the HFQPO pairs shift from the higher to lower frequencies, which is consistent with the analysis given by Remillard et al. (2002), and (3) the BH spin in XTE J1550-564 and GRO J1655-40 can be estimated by combining the 3:2 HFQPO pairs with the very steep emissivity index required for fitting the broad Fe K emission line.

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arXiv2008

A simplified model of jet power from active galactic nuclei

Aims. A simplified model of jet power from active galactic nuclei is proposed in which the relationship between jet power and disk luminosity is discussed by combining disk accretion with two mechanisms of extracting energy magnetically from a black hole accretion disk, i.e., the Blandford-Payne (BP) and the Blandford-Znajek (BZ) processes. Methods. By including the BP process into the conservation laws of mass, angular momentum and energy, we derive the expressions of the BP power and disk luminosity, and the jet power is regarded as the sum of the BZ and BP powers. Results. We find that the disk radiation flux and luminosity decrease because a fraction of the accretion energy is channelled into the outflow/jet in the BP process. It is found that the dominant cooling mode of the accretion disk is determined mainly by how the poloidal magnetic field decreases with the cylindrical radius of the jet. By using the parameter space we found, which consists of the black hole spin and the self-similar index of the configuration of the poloidal magnetic field frozen in the disk, we were able to compare the relative importance of the following quantities related to the jet production: (1) the BP power versus the disk luminosity, (2) the BP power versus the BZ power, and (3) the jet power versus the disk luminosity. In addition, we fit the jet power and broad-line region luminosity of 11 flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) and 17 steep-spectrum radio quasars (SSRQs) based on our model.

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arXiv2007

Effects of Magnetic Coupling on Radiation from Accretion Disc around a Kerr Black Hole

The effects of magnetic coupling (MC) process on the inner edge of the disc are discussed in detail. It is shown that the inner edge can deviate from the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) due to the magnetic transfer of energy and angular momentum between a Kerr black hole (BH) and its surrounding accretion disc. It turns out that the inner edge could move inward and outward for the BH spin $a_{*}$ being greater and less than 0.3594, respectively. The MC effects on disc radiation are discussed based on the displaced inner edge. A very steep emissivity can be provided by the MC process, which is consistent with the observation of MCG-6-30-15. In addition, the BH spins of GRO J1655-40 and GRS 1915+105 are detected by X-ray continuum fitting based on this model.

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