Minidisk dynamics in accreting, spinning black hole binaries: Simulations in full general relativity

Understand

We perform magnetohydrodynamic simulations of accreting, equal-mass binary black holes in full general relativity focusing on the impact of black hole spin on the dynamical formation and evolution of minidisks.

• We find that during the late inspiral the sizes of minidisks are primarily determined by the interplay between the tidal field and the effective innermost stable orbit around each black hole.
• Our calculations support that a minidisk forms when the Hill sphere around each black hole is significantly larger than the black hole's effective innermost stable orbit.
• As the binary inspirals, the radius of the Hill sphere decreases, and minidisk sconsequently shrink in size.