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Accretion Disks Around Binary Black Holes of Unequal Mass: GRMHD Simulations Near DecouplingWe report on simulations in general relativity of magnetized disks onto black hole binaries. We vary the binary mass ratio from 1:1 to 1:10 and evolve the systems when they orbit near the binary disk decoupling radius. We compare (surface) density profiles, accretion rates (relative to a single, non-spinning black hole), variability, effective alpha-stress levels and luminosities as functions of the mass ratio. We treat the disks in two limiting regimes: rapid radiative cooling and no radiative cooling. The magnetic field lines clearly reveal jets emerging from both black hole horizons and merging into one common jet at large distances. The magnetic fields give rise to much stronger shock heating than the pure hydrodynamic flows, completely alter the disk structure, and boost accretion rates and luminosities. Accretion streams near the horizons are among the densest structures; in fact, the 1:10 no-cooling evolution results in a refilling of the cavity. The typical effective temperature in the bulk of the disk is approx. 10(exp5) (M / 10(exp 8)M solar mass (exp -1/4(L/L(sub edd) (exp 1/4K) yielding characteristic thermal frequencies approx. 10 (exp 15) (M /10(exp 8)M solar mass) (exp -1/4(L/L (sub edd) (1+z) (exp -1)Hz. These systems are thus promising targets for many extragalactic optical surveys, such as LSST, WFIRST, and PanSTARRS.
Document ID
20140005676
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Gold, Roman (Illinois Univ. Urbana-Champaign, IL, United States)
Paschalidis, Vasileios (Illinois Univ. Urbana-Champaign, IL, United States)
Etienne, Zachariah B. (Illinois Univ. Urbana-Champaign, IL, United States)
Shapiro, Stuart L. (Illinois Univ. Urbana-Champaign, IL, United States)
Pfeiffer, Harald, P. (Toronto Univ. Ontario, Canada)
Date Acquired
May 13, 2014
Publication Date
January 1, 2013
Publication Information
Publisher: arXiv
Subject Category
Astronomy
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN12683
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX13AH44G
CONTRACT_GRANT: NSF OCI-07-25070
CONTRACT_GRANT: NSF OCI-1053575
CONTRACT_GRANT: NSF PHY-0963136
CONTRACT_GRANT: NSF PHY-1300903
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX11AE11G
CONTRACT_GRANT: NSF AST-1002667
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNG06EO90A
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
Keywords
Supermassive
Gravitational wave
SMBHs

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