Magnetically-levitating disks around supermassive black holes

Evghenii Gaburov, Anders Johansen, Yuri Levin

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    In this paper, we report on the formation of magnetically levitating accretion disks around supermassive black holes (SMBHs). The structure of these disks is calculated by numerically modeling tidal disruption of magnetized interstellar gas clouds. We find that the resulting disks are entirely supported by the pressure of the magnetic fields against the component of gravitational force directed perpendicular to the disks. The magnetic field shows ordered large-scale geometry that remains stable for the duration of our numerical experiments extending over 10% of the disk lifetime. Strong magnetic pressure allows high accretion rate and inhibits disk fragmentation. This in combination with the repeated feeding of magnetized molecular clouds to an SMBH yields a possible solution to the long-standing puzzle of black hole growth in the centers of galaxies.
    Original languageEnglish
    Article number103
    JournalAstrophysical Journal
    Volume758
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2012

    Subject classification (UKÄ)

    • Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

    Free keywords

    • fields
    • magnetic
    • ISM: clouds
    • accretion disks
    • accretion
    • Galaxy: nucleus
    • magnetohydrodynamics (MHD)
    • methods: numerical

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