Radiative GRMHD simulations of puffy accretion discs: Numerical versus analytical models of sub-Eddington accretion

TL;DR

This study uses GRRMHD simulations to compare puffy, sub-Eddington accretion discs around black holes with traditional analytic models, revealing significant structural and physical differences that impact observational interpretations.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed comparison between numerical GRRMHD simulations and analytic models of sub-Eddington accretion discs, highlighting key physical discrepancies.

Findings

The photosphere is geometrically thick in simulations.

The inner edge is closer to the black hole than predicted.

Surface density and viscosity profiles differ from models.

Abstract

A widely accepted picture of an accretion flow in the luminous soft spectral state of X-ray binary systems is a geometrically thin disc structure much like the classic analytic solution of Shakura \& Sunyaev. Although the analytic models are troubled by instabilities and miss important aspects of physics, such as magnetic fields, they are successfully used as a framework for interpreting observational data. Here, we compare the results of general relativistic radiative magnetohydrodynamic (GRRMHD) simulations of optically thick, mildly sub-Eddington accretion on a stellar-mass black hole (the puffy disc) with established analytic and semi-analytic accretion models in the same regime. From the simulations, we find that the accretion flow is stabilised by the magnetic field, with a puffed-up, optically thick region resembling a warm corona surrounding a denser and cooler disc core. However, the stratified vertical structure of the disc significantly influences the observational picture of such a system. We analyse the inner disc structure, flow properties, effective viscosity, and inner edge position, and compare them to the predictions of standard models. We find that the simulated discs share some similarities with the models; however, they differ in several important aspects, most notably: the photosphere is geometrically thick, the inner edge is located closer to the central black hole than the analytic models assume, the surface density is significantly lower than analytically predicted, and the effective viscosity parameter is not constant but rises steeply in the innermost region.