Unstable mass-outflows in geometrically thick accretion flows around black holes

TL;DR

This study uses 2D hydrodynamical simulations to demonstrate that thick accretion flows around black holes produce inherently unstable, irregular mass-outflows, which could explain observed flare phenomena such as those in Sgr A*.

Contribution

The paper reveals the instability mechanisms of mass-outflows in thick accretion flows and links them to Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, providing insights into flare phenomena.

Findings

Mass-outflows are unstable in thick accretion flows.

Luminosity and outflow rates fluctuate irregularly.

Unstable outflows may explain Sgr A* flares.

Abstract

Accretion flows around black holes generally result in mass-outflows that exhibit irregular behavior quite often. Using 2D time-dependent hydrodynamical calculations, we show that the mass-outflow is unstable in the cases of thick accretion flows such as the low angular momentum accretion flow and the advection-dominated accretion flow. For the low angular momentum flow, the inward accreting matter on the equatorial plane interacts with the outflowing gas along the rotational axis and the centrifugally supported oblique shock is formed at the interface of both the flows, when the viscosity parameter $\alpha$ is as small as $\alpha \le 10^{-3}$. The hot and rarefied blobs, which result in the eruptive mass-outflow, are generated in the inner shocked region and grow up toward the outer boundary. The advection-dominated accretion flow attains finally in the form of a torus disc with the inner edge of the disc at $3R_{\rm g} \le r \le 6R_{\rm g}$ and the center at $6R_ {\rm g} \le r \le 10R_{\rm g}$, and a series of hot blobs is intermittently formed near the inner edge of the torus and grows up along the outer surface of the torus. As a result, the luminosity and the mass-outflow rate are modulated irregularly where the luminosity is enhanced by 10-40% and the mass-outflow rate is increaed by a factor of few up to ten. We interpret the unstable nature of the outflow to be due to the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, examining the Richardson number for the Kelvin-Helmholtz criterion in the inner region of the flow. We propose that the flare phenomena of Sgr A* may be induced by the unstable mass-outflow as is found in this work.