Acceleration of wind in optically thin and thick black hole accretion disks simulated in general relativity

Abstract

We study the force balance and resulting acceleration of gas in general relativity basing on simulations of accretion on a stellar-mass, non-rotating black hole. We compare properties of acceleration in an optically thin, radiatively inefficient disk, and in an optically thick, super-critical disk accreting at 10 times the Eddington rate. We study both the average forces acting at given location and forces acting on a gas parcel along its trajectory. We show that the acceleration is not a continuous process - in most cases gas is accelerated only in short-lasting episodes. We find that in the case of optically thin disks gas is pushed out by magnetic field in the polar region and by thermal pressure and centrifugal force below the disk surface. In case of optically thick, radiative accretion, it is the radiation pressure which accelerates the gas in the polar funnel and which compensates (together with the centrifugal force) the gravity in the bulk of the disk. We also show that the Newtonian formulae for the forces are inadequate in the innermost and in the highly magnetized regions.