Accretion-powered flares from black hole-disk collisions in galactic nuclei

TL;DR

This paper develops a radiative framework to predict observable signatures of black hole-disk collisions in galactic nuclei, revealing that emission is dominated by super-Eddington accretion flows and varies with disk density and collision velocity.

Contribution

It introduces a new radiative post-processing method for relativistic hydrodynamics simulations of black hole impacts on accretion disks, predicting light curves and spectra.

Findings

Luminosity can reach several times the Eddington limit.

Emission is mainly soft X-rays dominated by accretion flow.

Lower collision velocities produce brighter flares.

Abstract

Black hole impacts on accretion disks in galactic nuclei can power luminous transients, but predicting their observable signatures is challenging because the post-collision flow is highly time-dependent and inhomogeneous. We present a radiative post-processing framework for relativistic hydrodynamics simulations of black hole-disk collisions. Using physically motivated prescriptions for shock heating, optical depth via an eikonal solver, and photon escape fractions that account for advection trapping and diffusion, we predict light curves and spectral energy distributions over a range of disk densities and collision velocities. Our results indicate that the emission is dominated by the long-lived, highly super-Eddington accretion flow onto the secondary black hole, rather than by cooling of the unbound ejecta. In the parameter range explored, the luminosity can reach several times the Eddington luminosity of the secondary, and the emission is generically dominated by soft X-rays. We find that lower velocity collisions produce brighter flares, while the disk surface density mainly controls spectral evolution: low-density disks typically produce keV-peaked flares with weak spectral evolution, whereas high-density disks show softer early emission and late-time hardening. A depletion-time estimate calibrated to our results suggests characteristic durations of hours to days for intermediate-mass secondaries, and yields $t_{\rm flare} \propto P_{\rm QPE}$. We discuss implications for QPE-like transients and for the SMBH-binary candidate OJ 287.