ABSTRACT A widely accepted picture of an accretion flow in the luminous soft spectral state of X-ray binary systems is a geometrically thin disc structure much like the classic analytic solution of Shakura & Sunyaev. Although the analytic models are troubled by instabilities and miss important aspects of physics, such as magnetic fields, they are successfully used as a framework for interpreting observational data. Here, we compare the results of GRRMHD (general relativistic radiative magnetohydrodynamic) simulations of optically thick, mildly sub-Eddington accretion on a stellar-mass black hole (the puffy disc) with established analytic and semi-analytic accretion models in the same regime. From the simulations, we find that the accretion flow is stabilized by the magnetic field, with a puffed-up, optically thick region resembling a warm corona surrounding a denser and cooler disc core. However, the stratified vertical structure of the disc significantly influences the observational picture of such a system. We analyse the inner disc structure, flow properties, effective viscosity, and inner edge position, and compare them to the predictions of standard models. We find that the simulated discs share some similarities with the models; however, they differ in several important aspects, most notably: the photosphere is geometrically thick, the inner edge is located closer to the central black hole than the analytic models assume, the surface density is significantly lower than analytically predicted, and the effective viscosity parameter is not constant but rises steeply in the innermost region.

We report on a new class of solutions of black hole accretion disks that we have found through three-dimensional, global, radiative magnetohydrodynamic simulations in general relativity. It combines features of the canonical thin, slim, and thick disk models but differs in crucial respects from each of them. We expect these new solutions to provide a more realistic description of black hole disks than the slim disk model. We are presenting a disk solution for a nonspinning black hole at a sub-Eddington mass accretion rate, . By the density scale-height measure the disk appears to be thin, having a high density core near the equatorial plane of height , but most of the inflow occurs through a highly advective, turbulent, optically thick, Keplerian region that sandwiches the core and has a substantial geometrical thickness comparable to the radius, H ∼ r. The accreting fluid is supported above the midplane in large part by the magnetic field, with the gas and radiation to magnetic pressure ratio β ∼ 1, this makes the disk thermally stable, even though the radiation pressure strongly dominates over gas pressure. A significant part of the radiation emerging from the disk is captured by the black hole, so the disk is less luminous than a thin disk would be at the same accretion rate.

We implement the KORAL code to perform two sets of very long general relativistic radiation magnetohydrodynamic simulations of an axisymmetric optically thin magnetized flow around a non-rotating black hole: one with a new term in the electromagnetic field tensor due to the radiation pressure felt by the plasma electrons on the comoving frame of the electron-proton plasma, and one without. The source of the radiation is the accretion flow itself. Without the new term, the system evolves to a standard accretion flow due to the development of the magneto-rotational instability (MRI). With the new term, however, the system eventually evolves to a magnetically arrested state (MAD) in which a large scale jet-like magnetic field threads the black hole horizon. Our results confirm the secular action of the Cosmic Battery in accretion flows around astrophysical black holes.

We run two GRRMHD simulations of super-Eddington accretion disks around a black hole and a non-magnetized, non-rotating neutron star. The neutron star was modeled using a reflective inner boundary condition. We observe the formation of a transition layer in the inner region of the disk in the neutron star simulation which leads to a larger mass outflow rate and a lower radiative luminosity over the black hole case. Sphereization of the flow leads to an observable luminosity at infinity around the Eddington value when viewed from all directions for the neutron star case, contrasting to the black hole case where collimation of the emission leads to observable luminosities about an order of magnitude higher when observed along the disk axis. We find the outflow to be optically thick to scattering, which would lead to the obscuring of any neutron star pulsations observed in corresponding ULXs.

The Event Horizon Telescope will generate horizon scale images of the black hole in the center of the Milky Way, Sgr A*. Image reconstruction using interferometric visibilities rests on the assumption of a stationary image. We explore the limitations of this assumption using high-cadence disk-and jet-dominated GRMHD simulations of Sgr A*. We also employ analytic models that capture the basic characteristics of the images to understand the origin of the variability in the simulated visibility amplitudes. We find that, in all simulations, the visibility amplitudes for baselines oriented parallel and perpendicular to the spin axis of the black hole follow general trends that do not depend strongly on accretion-flow properties. This suggests that fitting Event Horizon Telescope observations with simple geometric models may lead to a reasonably accurate determination of the orientation of the black hole on the plane of the sky. However, in the disk-dominated models, the locations and depths of the minima in the visibility amplitudes are highly variable and are not related simply to the size of the black hole shadow. This suggests that using time-independent models to infer additional black hole parameters, such as the shadow size or the spin magnitude, will be severely affected by the variability of the accretion flow.

According to magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), the encounter of two collisional magnetized plasmas at high velocity gives rise to shock waves. Investigations conducted so far have found that the same conclusion still holds in the case of collisionless plasmas. For the case of a flow-aligned field, MHD stipulates that the field and the fluid are disconnected, so that the shock produced is independent of the field. We present a violation of this MHD prediction when considering the encounter of two cold pair plasmas along a flow-aligned magnetic field. As the guiding magnetic field grows, isotropization is progressively suppressed, resulting in a strong influence of the field on the resulting structure. A micro-physics analysis allows to understand the mechanisms at work. Particle-in-cell simulations also support our conclusions and show that the results are not restricted to a strictly parallel field.

We have performed a set of simulations of expanding, spherically symmetric nebulae inflated by winds from accreting black holes in ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs). We implemented a realistic cooling function to account for free-free and bound-free cooling. For all model parameters we considered, the forward shock in the interstellar medium becomes radiative at a radius similar to 100 pc. The emission is primarily in optical and UV, and the radiative luminosity is about 50 per cent of the total kinetic luminosity of the wind. In contrast, the reverse shock in the wind is adiabatic so long as the terminal outflow velocity of the wind v(w) greater than or similar to 0.003c. The shocked wind in these models radiates in X-rays, but with a luminosity of only similar to 10(35) erg s(-1). For wind velocities v(w) less than or similar to 0.001c, the shocked wind becomes radiative, but it is no longer hot enough to produce X-rays. Instead it emits in optical and UV, and the radiative luminosity is comparable to 100 per cent of the wind kinetic luminosity. We suggest that measuring the optical luminosities and putting limits on the X-ray and radio emission from shock-ionized ULX bubbles may help in estimating the mass outflow rate of the central accretion disc and the velocity of the outflow.

Current simulations of hot accretion flows around black holes assume either a single-temperature gas or, at best, a two-temperature gas with thermal ions and electrons. However, processes like magnetic reconnection and shocks can accelerate electrons into a nonthermal distribution, which will not quickly thermalise at the very low densities found in many systems. Such nonthermal electrons have been invoked to explain the infrared and X-ray spectra and strong variability of Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the black hole at the Galactic Center. We present a method for self-consistent evolution of a nonthermal electron population in the GRMHD code KORAL. The electron distribution is tracked across Lorentz factor space and is evolved in space and time, in parallel with thermal electrons, thermal ions, and radiation. In the present study, for simplicity, energy injection into the nonthermal distribution is taken as a fixed fraction of the local electron viscous heating rate. Numerical results are presented for a model with a low mass accretion rate similar to that of Sgr A*. We find that the presence of a nonthermal population of electrons has negligible effect on the overall dynamics of the system. Due to our simple uniform particle injection prescription, the radiative power in the nonthermal simulation is enhanced at large radii. The energy distribution of the nonthermal electrons shows a synchrotron cooling break, with the break Lorentz factor varying with location and time, reflecting the complex interplay between the local viscous heating rate, magnetic field strength, and fluid velocity.

Strong magnetization in accretion discs could resolve a number of outstanding issues related to stability and state transitions in low-mass X-ray binaries. However, it is unclear how real discs become strongly magnetized and, even if they do, whether they can remain in such a state. In this paper, we address the latter issue through a pair of global disc simulations. Here, we only consider cases of initially purely toroidal magnetic fields contained entirely within a compact torus. We find that over only a few tens of orbital periods, the magnetization of an initially strongly magnetized disc, Pmag/Pgas ≥ 10, drops to ≲ 0.1, similar to the steady-state value reached in initially weakly magnetized discs. This is consistent with recent shearing box simulations with initially strong toroidal fields, the robust conclusion being that strongly magnetized toroidal fields cannot be locally self-sustaining. These results appear to leave net poloidal flux or extended radial fields as the only avenues for establishing strongly magnetized discs, ruling out the thermal collapse scenario.

The observable quantities that carry the most information regarding the structures of the images of black holes in the interferometric observations with the Event Horizon Telescope are the closure phases along different baseline triangles. We use long time span, high cadence, GRMHD+radiative transfer models of Sgr A^* to investigate the expected variability of closure phases in such observations. We find that, in general, closure phases along small baseline triangles show little variability, except in the cases when one of the triangle vertices crosses one of a small regions of low visibility amplitude. The closure phase variability increases with the size of the baseline triangle, as larger baselines probe the small-scale structures of the images, which are highly variable. On average, the jet-dominated MAD models show less closure phase variability than the disk-dominated SANE models, even in the large baseline triangles, because the images from the latter are more sensitive to the turbulence in the accretion flow. Our results suggest that image reconstruction techniques need to explicitly take into account the closure phase variability, especially if the quality and quantity of data allow for a detailed characterization of the nature of variability. This also implies that, if image reconstruction techniques that rely on the assumption of a static image are utilized, regions of the u-v space that show a high level of variability will need to be identified and excised.

We carried out the first multi-wavelength (optical/UV and X-ray) photometric reverberation mapping of a tidal disruption flare (TDF) ASASSN-14li. We find that its X-ray variations are correlated with and lag the optical/UV fluctuations by 32 +/- 4 days. Based on the direction and the magnitude of the X-ray time lag, we rule out X-ray reprocessing and direct emission from a standard circular thin disk as the dominant source of its optical/UV emission. The lag magnitude also rules out an AGN disk-driven instability as the origin of ASASSN-14li and thus strongly supports the tidal disruption picture for this event and similar objects. We suggest that the majority of the optical/UV emission likely originates from debris stream self-interactions. Perturbations at the self-interaction sites produce optical/UV variability and travel down to the black hole where they modulate the X-rays. The time lag between the optical/UV and the X-rays variations thus correspond to the time taken by these fluctuations to travel from the self-interaction site to close to the black hole. We further discuss these time lags within the context of the three variants of the self-interaction model. High-cadence monitoring observations of future TDFs will be sensitive enough to detect these echoes and would allow us to establish the origin of optical/UV emission in TDFs in general.

Black hole accretion discs accreting near the Eddington rate are dominated by bremsstrahlung cooling, but above the Eddington rate, the double Compton process can dominate in radiationdominated regions, while the cyclo-synchrotron can dominate in strongly magnetized regions like a corona or a jet. We present an extension to the general relativistic radiationmagnetohydrodynamic code HARMRAD to account for emission and absorption by thermal cyclo-synchrotron, double Compton, bremsstrahlung, low-temperature OPAL opacities, as well as Thomson and Compton scattering. The HARMRAD code and associated analysis and visualization codes have been made open-source and are publicly available at the github repository website. We approximate the radiation field as a Bose-Einstein distribution and evolve it using the radiation number-energy-momentum conservation equations in order to track photon hardening. We perform various simulations to study how these extensions affect the radiative properties of magnetically arrested discs accreting at Eddington to super-Eddington rates. We find that double Compton dominates bremsstrahlung in the disc within a radius of r similar to 15r(g) (gravitational radii) at hundred times the Eddington accretion rate, and within smaller radii at lower accretion rates. Double Compton and cyclo-synchrotron regulate radiation and gas temperatures in the corona, while cyclo-synchrotron regulates temperatures in the jet. Interestingly, as the accretion rate drops to Eddington, an optically thin corona develops whose gas temperature of T similar to 10(9)K is similar to 100 times higher than the disc's blackbody temperature. Our results show the importance of double Compton and synchrotron in super-Eddington discs, magnetized coronae and jets.

We unify the feeding and feedback of supermassive black holes with the global properties of galaxies, groups, and clusters. by linking for the first time the physical mechanical efficiency at the horizon and megaparsec scale. The macro hot halo is tightly constrained by the absence of overheating and overcooling. as probed by X-ray data and hydrodynamic simulations (epsilon(BH) similar or equal to 10(-3) T-x,T-7.4). The micro flow is shaped by general-relativistic effects tracked by state-of-the-art GR-RMHD simulations (epsilon(center dot) similar or equal to 0.03). The supermassive black hole properties are tied to the X-ray halo temperature Tx, or related cosmic scaling relation (as L-x). The model is minimally based on first principles, such. as conservation of energy and mass recycling. The inflow occurs via chaotic cold accretion (CCA), the rain of cold clouds condensing out of the quenched cooling flow. and then recurrently funneled via inelastic collisions. Within 100s gravitational radii, the accretion energy is transformed into ultrafast 10(4) km s(-1) outflows (UFOs) ejecting most of the inflowing mass. At larger radii, the energy-driven outflow entrains progressively more mass: at roughly kiloparsec. scale, the velocities of the hot/warm/cold outflows are a few 103, 1000, and 500 km s(-1), with median mass rates similar to 10, 100, and. several 100 M-circle dot yr(-1), respectively. The unified CCA model is consistent with the observations of nuclear UFOs. and ionized, neutral, and molecular macro outflows. We provide step-by-step implementation for subgrid simulations, (semi) analytic works, or observational interpretations that. require selfregulated AGN feedback at coarse scales, avoiding the a-posteriori. fine-tuning of efficiencies.

We perform a set of general relativistic, radiative, magneto-hydrodynamical simulations (GR-RMHD) to study the transition from radiatively inefficient to efficient state of accretion on a non-rotating black hole. We study ion to electron temperature ratios ranging from $T_{\rm i}/T_{\rm e}=10$ to $100$, and simulate flows corresponding to accretion rates as low as $10^{-6}\dot M_{\rm Edd}$, and as high as $10^{-2}\dot M_{\rm Edd}$. We have found that the radiative output of accretion flows increases with accretion rate, and that the transition occurs earlier for hotter electrons (lower $T_{\rm i}/T_{\rm e}$ ratio). At the same time, the mechanical efficiency hardly changes and accounts to ${\approx}\,3\%$ of the accreted rest mass energy flux, even at the highest simulated accretion rates. This is particularly important for the mechanical AGN feedback regulating massive galaxies, groups, and clusters. Comparison with recent observations of radiative and mechanical AGN luminosities suggests that the ion to electron temperature ratio in the inner, collisionless accretion flow should fall within $10

We present general relativistic radiation MHD simulations of super-Eddington accretion on a $10M_\odot$ black hole. We consider a range of mass accretion rates, black hole spins, and magnetic field configurations. We compute the spectra and images of the models as a function of viewing angle, and compare them with the observed properties of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs). The models easily produce apparent luminosities in excess of $10^{40}~{\rm erg\,s^{-1}}$ for pole-on observers. However, the angle-integrated radiative luminosities rarely exceed $2.5\times10^{39}~{\rm erg\,s^{-1}}$ even for mass accretion rates of tens of Eddington. The systems are thus radiatively inefficient, though they are energetically efficient when the energy output in winds and jets is also counted. The simulated models reproduce the main empirical types of spectra --- disk-like, supersoft, soft, hard --- observed in ULXs. The magnetic field configuration, whether MAD ("magnetically arrested disk") or SANE ("standard and normal evolution"), has a strong effect on the results. In SANE models, the X-ray spectral hardness is almost independent of accretion rate, but decreases steeply with increasing inclination. MAD models with non-spinning black holes produce significantly softer spectra at higher values of $\dot{M}$, even at low inclinations. MAD models with rapidly spinning black holes are quite different from all other models. They are radiatively efficient (efficiency factor $\sim10-20\%$), super-efficient when the mechanical energy output is also included ($70\%$), and produce hard blazar-like spectra. In all models, the emission shows strong geometrical beaming, which disagrees with the more isotropic illumination favored by observations of ULX bubbles.

We present a numerical method which evolves a two-temperature, magnetized, radiative, accretion flow around a black hole, within the framework of general relativistic radiation magnetohydrodynamics. As implemented in the code KORAL, the gas consists of two sub-components -- ions and electrons -- which share the same dynamics but experience independent, relativistically consistent, thermodynamical evolution. The electrons and ions are heated independently according to a standard prescription from the literature for magnetohydrodynamical turbulent dissipation. Energy exchange between the particle species via Coulomb collisions is included. In addition, electrons gain and lose energy and momentum by absorbing and emitting synchrotron and bremsstrahlung radiation, and through Compton scattering. All evolution equations are handled within a fully covariant framework in the relativistic fixed-metric spacetime of the black hole. Numerical results are presented for five models of low luminosity black hole accretion. In the case of a model with a mass accretion rate $\dot{M}\sim10^{-8} \dot M_{\rm Edd}$, we find that radiation has a negligible effect on either the dynamics or the thermodynamics of the accreting gas. In contrast, a model with a larger $\dot{M}\sim 4\times 10^{-4} \dot M_{\rm Edd}$ behaves very differently. The accreting gas is much cooler and the flow is geometrically less thick, though it is not quite a thin accretion disk.

We study the dynamics of radiation pressure supported tori around Schwarzschild black holes, focusing on their oscillatory response to an external perturbation. Using KORAL, a general relativistic radiation-hydrodynamics code capable of modelling all radiative regimes from the optically thick to the optically thin, we monitor a sample of models at different initial temperatures and opacities, evolving them in two spatial dimensions for similar to 165 orbital periods. The dynamics of models with high opacity is very similar to that of purely hydrodynamics models, and it is characterized by regular oscillations which are visible also in the light curves. As the opacity is decreased, the tori quickly and violently migrate towards the gas-pressure dominated regime, collapsing towards the equatorial plane. When the spectra of the L-2 norm of the mass density are considered, high-frequency inertial-acoustic modes of oscillations are detected (with the fundamental mode at a frequency 68 M-BH(-1) Hz), in close analogy to the phenomenology of purely hydrodynamic models. An additional mode of oscillation, at a frequency 129M(BH)(-1) Hz, is also found, which can be unambiguously attributed to the radiation. The spectra extracted from the light curves are typically noisier, indicating that in a real observation such modes may not be easily detected.

We calculate the minimal amount of large-scale poloidal magnetic field that has to thread the inner, radiation-over-gas pressure dominated region of a thin disk for its thermal stability. Such a net field amplifies the magnetization of the saturated turbulent state and makes it locally stable. For a $10 M_\odot$ black hole the minimal magnetic flux is $10^{24}(\dot M/\dot M_{\rm Edd})^{20/21}\,\rm G\cdot cm^{2}$. This amount is compared with the amount of uniform magnetic flux that can be provided by the companion star -- estimated to be in the range $10^{22}-10^{24}\,\rm G\cdot cm^2$. If accretion rate is large enough, the companion is not able to provide the required amount and such a system, if still sub-Eddington, must be thermally unstable. The peculiar variability of GRS 1915+105, an X-ray binary with the exceptionally high BH mass and near-Eddington luminosity, may result from the shortage of large scale poloidal field of uniform polarity.

By studying three- dimensional, radiative, global simulations of sub- Eddington, geometrically thin (H/R 0.15) black hole accretion flows we show that thin discs which are dominated by magnetic pressure are stable against thermal instability. Such discs are thicker than predicted by the standard model and show significant amount of dissipation inside the marginally stable orbit. Radiation released in this region, however, does not escape to infinity but is advected into the black hole. We find that the resulting accretion efficiency (5.5 0.5 per cent for the simulated 0.8. M Edd disc) is very close to the predicted by the standard model (5.7 per cent).

Context. At super-Eddington rates accretion flows onto black holes have been described as slim (aspect ratio H/R less than or similar to 1) or thick (H/R > 1) discs, also known as tori or (Polish) doughnuts. The relation between the two descriptions has never been established, but it was commonly believed that at sufficiently high accretion rates slim discs inflate, becoming thick.Aims. We wish to establish under what conditions slim accretion flows become thick.Methods. We use analytical equations, numerical 1 + 1 schemes, and numerical radiative MHD codes to describe and compare various accretion flow models at very high accretion rates.Results. We find that the dominant effect of advection at high accretion rates precludes slim discs becoming thick.Conclusions. At super-Eddington rates accretion flows around black holes can always be considered slim rather than thick.