5 research outputs found
On the Azimuthal Stability of Shock Waves around Black Holes
Analytical studies and numerical simulations of time dependent axially
symmetric flows onto black holes have shown that it is possible to produce
stationary shock waves with a stable position both for ideal inviscid and for
moderately viscous accretion disks.
We perform several two dimensional numerical simulations of accretion flows
in the equatorial plane to study shock stability against non-axisymmetric
azimuthal perturbations. We find a peculiar new result. A very small
perturbation seems to produce an instability as it crosses the shock, but after
some small oscillations, the shock wave suddenly transforms into an asymmetric
closed pattern, and it stabilizes with a finite radial extent, despite the
inflow and outflow boundary conditions are perfectly symmetric. The main
characteristics of the final flow are: 1) The deformed shock rotates steadily
without any damping. It is a permanent feature and the thermal energy content
and the emitted energy vary periodically with time. 2) This behavior is also
stable against further perturbations. 3) The average shock is still very strong
and well defined, and its average radial distance is somewhat larger than that
of the original axially symmetric circular shock. 4) Shocks obtained with
larger angular momentum exhibit more frequencies and beating phenomena. 5) The
oscillations occur in a wide range of parameters, so this new effect may have
relevant observational consequences, like (quasi) periodic oscillations, for
the accretion of matter onto black holes. Typical time scales for the periods
are 0.01 and 1000 seconds for black holes with 10 and 1 million solar mass,
respectively.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, accepted by the Astrophysical Journa
Bending Instability of an Accretion Disc Around a Black Hole
We demonstrate that generically an accretion disk around a compact object
could have a new type of instability in that the accretion flow need not be
symmetric with respect to the equatorial plane even when matter is supplied
symmetrically farther out. We find that this behaviour is mainly due to
interaction of outgoing matter bounced off the centrifugal barrier and the
incoming accretion. We believe that X-ray variability could be developed by
this instability.Comment: 5 Latex pages and four figures. Accepted for Astrophysical J. Letter