2012

X-ray Spectra from MHD Simulations of Accreting Black Holes

Schnittman, Jeremy D., Krolik, Julian H., Noble, Scott C.

Understand

We present the results of a new global radiation transport code coupled to a general relativistic magneto-hydrodynamic simulation of an accreting, non-rotating black hole.

For the first time, we are able to explain from first principles in a self-consistent way all the components seen in the X-ray spectra of stellar-mass black holes, including a thermal peak and all the features associated with strong hard X-ray emission: a power-law extending to high energies, a Compton reflection hump, and a broad iron line.
Varying only the mass accretion rate, we are able to reproduce a wide range of X-ray states seen in most galactic black hole sources.
The temperature in the corona is T_e ~ 10 keV in a boundary layer near the disk and rises smoothly to T_e >~ 100 keV in low-density regions far above the disk.

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