Heating of Accretion-Disk Coronae and Jets by General Relativistic MHD Turbulence

TL;DR

This paper develops a general relativistic MHD turbulence model to analyze how Alfvén wave turbulence heats accretion disk coronae and jets, providing analytical solutions and a sub-grid model for future simulations.

Contribution

It introduces an Elsasser-like formulation of GRMHD, derives equations for Alfvén wave turbulence and heating, and provides analytical solutions and a sub-grid model for turbulent disk coronae and jets.

Findings

Alfvén wave energy flux can be comparable to the disk's radiative flux.

Derived analytical solutions for wave amplitude and heating rate.

Established a sub-grid model for future global simulations.

Abstract

Turbulence in an accretion disk launches Alfv\'en waves (AWs) that propagate away from the disk along magnetic field lines. Because the Alfv\'en speed varies with distance from the disk, the AWs undergo partial non-WKB reflection, and counter-propagating AWs subsequently interact, causing AW energy to cascade to small scales and dissipate. To investigate this process, we introduce an Elsasser-like formulation of general relativistic MHD (GRMHD) and develop the theory of general relativistic reduced MHD in an inhomogeneous medium. We then derive a set of equations for the mean-square AW amplitude $M_+$ and turbulent heating rate $Q$ under the assumption that, in the plasma rest frame, AWs propagating away from the disk are much more energetic than AWs propagating toward the disk. For the case in which the background flow is axisymmetric and time-independent, we solve these equations analytically to determine $M_+$ and $Q$ as functions of position. We find that, for an idealized thin disk threaded by a large-scale poloidal magnetic field, the AW energy flux is $\sim (\rho_{\rm b}/\rho_{\rm d})^{1/2} \beta_{\rm net,d}^{-1/2}$ times the disk's radiative flux, where $\rho_{\rm b}$ and $\rho_{\rm d}$ are the mass densities at the coronal base and disk midplane, respectively, and $\beta_{\rm net,d}$ is the ratio (evaluated at the disk midplane) of plasma-plus-radiation pressure to the pressure of the average vertical magnetic field. This energy flux could have a significant impact on disk coronae and outflows. To lay the groundwork for future global simulations of turbulent disk coronae and jets, we derive a set of averaged GRMHD equations that account for reflection-driven AW turbulence using a sub-grid model.