Magneto Rotational Instability in Magnetized AGN Tori

Abstract

It is widely believed that, in active galactic nuclei (AGNs), a supermassive black hole with an accretion disk is surrounded by an optically and geometrically thick torus at sub-parsec scale. However, it is not clear how the mass supply is toward the central engine caused and how it is related with the internal structures of the tori. The magnetic field in the tori may contribute to the accretion process via the magneto-rotational instability (MRI). Using global three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations taking the effects of X-ray heating and radiative cooling into account studied the numerical resolution for azimuthal direction for MRI driving. We found that a strongly magnetized disk consisted of a cold (< 10 3 K) and warm ( 10 4 K) gas is developed in about 30 rotational periods. We also found in a high resolution model that the mean azimuthal magnetic fields reverse their direction quasi-periodically. We confirmed that the typical wave length of the MRI should be resolved with a least 20 azimuthal grid cells.

Keywords

• galaxies: nuclei
• methods: numerical
• magnetohydrodynamics (MHD)