Jets from SANE Super-Eddington Accretion Disks: Morphology, Spectra, and Their Potential as Targets for ngEHT

TL;DR

This study uses GRRMHD simulations to explore super-Eddington accretion disk jets around SMBHs, analyzing their morphology, spectra, and detectability with ngEHT, revealing insights into jet dynamics and observational signatures.

Contribution

First detailed GRRMHD simulations of super-Eddington SMBH accretion flows producing observable jet spectra and images relevant for ngEHT observations.

Findings

Jets reach velocities of 0.5-0.9c with internal shocks and dissipation.

Radio/submillimeter spectra peak at >100 GHz, luminosity increases with BH spin.

ngEHT can potentially image jet motion in TDEs within 180 Mpc.

Abstract

We present general relativistic radiation magnetohydrodynamics (GRRMHD) simulations of super-Eddington accretion flows around supermassive black holes (SMBHs) which may apply to tidal disruption events (TDEs). We perform long duration ($t\geq81,200\, GM/c^3$) simulations which achieve mass accretion rates $\gtrsim 11$ times the Eddington rate and produce thermal synchrotron spectra and images of their jets. The jet reaches a maximum velocity of $v/c \approx 0.5-0.9$, but the density weighted outflow velocity is $\sim0.2-0.35c$. Gas flowing beyond the funnel wall expands conically and drives a strong shock at the jet head while variable mass ejection along the jet axis results in internal shocks and dissipation. For a $T_i/T_e=1$ model, the radio/submillimeter spectra peak at $>100$ GHz and the luminosity increases with BH spin, exceeding $\sim 10^{41} \, \rm{erg\, s^{-1}}$ in the brightest models. The emission is extremely sensitive to $T_i/T_e$ as some models show an order of magnitude decrease in the peak frequency and up to four orders of magnitude decline in their radio/submillimeter luminosity as $T_i/T_e$ approaches 20. Assuming a maximum VLBI baseline distance of $10 \ {\rm{G}}\lambda$, 230 GHz images of $T_i/T_e=1$ models shows that the jet head may be bright enough for its motion to be captured with the EHT (ngEHT) at $D\lesssim110$ (180) Mpc at the $5\sigma$ significance level. Resolving emission from internal shocks requires $D\lesssim45$ Mpc for both the EHT or ngEHT. The 5 GHz emission in each model is dimmer ($\lesssim10^{36} \ {\rm{erg\, s^{-1}}}$) than upper limits placed on TDEs with no radio emission which suggests jets similar to our models may have gone undetected in previous observations. Our models suggest that the ngEHT may be utilized for $>230$ GHz radio/submillimeter followup of future TDEs.