Three-Dimensional Simulations of Inflows Irradiated by a Precessing Accretion Disk in Active Galactic Nuclei: Formation of Outflows

TL;DR

This paper uses 3D hydrodynamical simulations to study how precessing accretion disks in active galactic nuclei influence inflow and outflow gas dynamics, revealing complex flow structures and dependencies on disk tilt and precession period.

Contribution

It introduces the first detailed 3D simulations of AGN inflows affected by precessing disks, exploring flow morphology and outflow properties under various disk orientations.

Findings

Flow consists of equatorial inflow and bipolar outflow.

Outflow velocity and power decrease with larger tilt angles.

Mass inflow rate remains relatively unaffected by disk tilt.

Abstract

We present three-dimensional (3-D) hydrodynamical simulations of gas flows in the vicinity of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) powered by a precessing accretion disk. We consider the effects of the radiation force from such a disk on its environment on a relatively large scale (up to ~10 pc. We implicitly include the precessing disk by forcing the disk radiation field to precess around a symmetry axis with a given period ($P$) and a tilt angle ($\Theta$). We study time evolution of the flows irradiated by the disk, and investigate basic dependencies of the flow morphology, mass flux, angular momentum on different combinations of $\Theta$ and $P$. We find the gas flow settles into a configuration with two components, (1) an equatorial inflow and (2) a bipolar inflow/outflow with the outflow leaving the system along the poles (the directions of disk normals). However, the flow does not always reach a steady state. We find that the maximum outflow velocity and the kinetic outflow power at the outer boundary can be reduced significantly with increasing $\Theta$. We also find that of the mass inflow rate across the inner boundary does not change significantly with increasing $\Theta$. (Abbreviated)