Advection/Diffusion of Large-Scale B-Field in Accretion Disks

Understand

Activity of the nuclei of galaxies and stellar mass systems involving disk accretion to black holes is thought to be due to (1) a small-scale turbulent magnetic field in the disk (due to the magneto-rotational instability or MRI) which gives a large viscosity enhancing accretion, and (2) a large-scale magnetic field which gives rise to matter outflows and/or electromagnetic jets from the disk which also enhances accretion.

• An important problem with this picture is that the enhanced viscosity is accompanied by an enhanced magnetic diffusivity which acts to prevent the build up of a significant large-scale field.
• Recent work has pointed out that the disk's surface layers are non-turbulent and thus highly conducting (or non-diffusive) because the MRI is suppressed high in the disk where the magnetic and radiation pressures are larger than the thermal pressure.
• Here, we calculate the vertical ($z$) profiles of the stationary accretion flows (with radial and azimuthal components), and the profiles of the large-scale, magnetic field taking into account the turbulent viscosity and diffusivity due to the MRI and the fact that the turbulence vanishes at the surface of the disk.