Analytical and Numerical Methods for Circumbinary Disk Dynamics -- II: Inclined Disks

TL;DR

This study combines analytical and numerical methods to explore the dynamics of inclined circumbinary disks around supermassive black hole binaries, revealing stability conditions and their implications for gravitational wave and electromagnetic signals.

Contribution

It introduces a combined analytical and 2D hydrodynamics simulation approach to analyze the effects of binary inclination and mass ratio on disk stability and torque distribution.

Findings

Certain inclination angles lead to non-steady state density profiles.

Configurations near 45 degrees inclination are dynamically unstable.

The balance between dynamical and viscous torques can oscillate or be absent.

Abstract

(Abridged) To gain insight into the dynamical influence of a supermassive black hole binary on a circumbinary accretion disk, we investigate the binary and viscous torque densities throughout such a disk, with emphasis on the final density distribution, particularly the size and stability of the central gap between the binary and the inner edge of the disk. We limit ourselves to the simplified case of a massless viscous thin accretion disk under the influence of the gravitational potential from a binary system whose orbital plane is inclined relative to the disk. The orbital plane could be inclined if it is not coeval with the disk, or the black holes have spin angular momentum misaligned with respect to the disk's orbital angular momentum, so that the binary can precess to an inclined orientation. We employ 2D Newtonian hydrodynamics simulations to examine the influence of two model parameters: the mass ratio of the binary and the inclination angle between the binary and the disk. We investigate their impact on the density and torque distribution. In our analytical approach, we consider the stability of epicycles induced by the perturbative effect of the asymmetric inclined binary gravitational potential on Keplerian circular orbits. Through our simulations, we observe that certain configurations never attain a quasi-steady state, where the density profile averaged over many orbits stabilizes. This instability occurs when the inclination is close to 45 degrees. Furthermore, we identify configurations where there is never a persistent balance between the dynamical and viscous torque densities, as well as cases where the location of this balance oscillates or exhibits other time-dependent behavior over viscous timescales. These findings have implications for understanding both the expected gravitational-wave signal and electromagnetic counterparts from supermassive black hole binaries.