Evolution of warped and twisted accretion discs in close binary systems

TL;DR

This study uses 3D hydrodynamic simulations to analyze how the structure and stability of misaligned accretion discs in close binary systems depend on physical parameters like thickness, viscosity, and size, revealing conditions for rigid precession and disruption.

Contribution

It provides new insights into disc behavior under various conditions using low-viscosity grid-based simulations, highlighting the impact of disc thickness and viscosity on precession and disruption.

Findings

Thick, low-viscosity discs precess rigidly with minimal warping.

Thinner, higher-viscosity discs develop significant twists before rigid precession.

Discs can be disrupted by differential precession under extreme conditions.

Abstract

We aim to examine the detailed disc structure that arises in a misaligned binary system as a function of the disc aspect ratio h, viscosity parameter alpha, disc outer radius R, and binary inclination angle gamma_F. We also aim to examine the conditions that lead to an inclined disc being disrupted by strong differential precession. We use a grid-based hydrodynamic code to perform 3D simulations. This code has a relatively low numerical viscosity compared with the SPH schemes that have been used previously to study inclined discs. This allows the influence of viscosity on the disc evolution to be tightly controlled. We find that for thick discs (h=0.05) with low alpha, efficient warp communication in the discs allows them to precess as rigid bodies with very little warping or twisting. Such discs are observed to align with the binary orbit plane on the viscous evolution time. Thinner discs with higher viscosity, in which warp communication is less efficient, develop significant twists before achieving a state of rigid-body precession. Under the most extreme conditions we consider (h=0.01, alpha=0.005 and alpha=0.1), we find that discs can become broken or disrupted by strong differential precession. Discs that become highly twisted are observed to align with the binary orbit plane on timescales much shorter than the viscous timescale, possibly on the precession time. We find agreement with previous studies that show that thick discs with low viscosity experience mild warping and precess rigidly. We also find that as h is decreased substantially, discs may be disrupted by strong differential precession, but for disc thicknesses that are significantly less (h=0.01) than those found in previous studies (h=0.03).