rHARM: Accretion and Ejection in Resistive GR-MHD

TL;DR

This paper introduces rHARM, a resistive general relativistic MHD code that models magnetic diffusivity effects in accretion disks and black hole environments, revealing critical diffusivity thresholds and wind launching mechanisms.

Contribution

The paper presents the implementation of magnetic resistivity in the HARM code, including theoretical, numerical, and preliminary astrophysical applications, advancing resistive GR-MHD simulations.

Findings

Identification of a critical magnetic diffusivity threshold for MRI suppression.

Demonstration of disk wind launching with significant mass flux.

Long-term stable simulations of accretion and wind processes.

Abstract

Turbulent magnetic diffusivity plays an important role for accretion disks and the launching of disk winds. We have implemented magnetic diffusivity, respective resistivity in the general relativistic MHD code HARM. This paper describes the theoretical background of our implementation, its numerical realization, our numerical tests and preliminary applications. The test simulations of the new code rHARM are compared with an analytic solution of the diffusion equation and a classical shock tube problem. We have further investigated the evolution of the magneto-rotational instability (MRI) in tori around black holes for a range of magnetic diffusivities. We find indication for a critical magnetic diffusivity (for our setup) beyond which no MRI develops in the linear regime and for which accretion of torus material to the black hole is delayed. Preliminary simulations of magnetically diffusive thin accretion disks around Schwarzschild black holes that are threaded by a large-scale poloidal magnetic field show the launching of disk winds with mass fluxes of about 50% of the accretion rate. The disk magnetic diffusivity allows for efficient disk accretion that replenishes the mass reservoir of the inner disk area and thus allows for long-term simulations of wind launching for more than 5000 time units.