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Efficiency of Super-Eddington Magnetically-Arrested Accretion
By Jonathan C. McKinney, Lixin Dai, Mark Avara
Published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 454, L6 (Tuesday, September 8, 2015)

Abstract

The radiative efficiency of super-Eddington accreting black holes (BHs) is explored for magnetically-arrested discs, where magnetic flux builds-up to saturation near the BH. Our three-dimensional general relativistic radiation magnetohydrodynamic (GRRMHD) simulation of a spinning BH (spin a/M = 0.8) accreting at ∼50 times Eddington shows a total efficiency ∼50 per cent when time-averaged and total efficiency ≳ 100 per cent in moments. Magnetic compression by the magnetic flux near the rotating BH leads to a thin disc, whose radiation escapes via advection by a magnetized wind and via transport through a low-density channel created by a Blandford–Znajek (BZ) jet. The BZ efficiency is sub-optimal due to inertial loading of field lines by optically thick radiation, leading to BZ efficiency ∼40 per cent on the horizon and BZ efficiency ∼5 per cent by r ∼ 400rg (gravitational radii) via absorption by the wind. Importantly, radiation escapes at r ∼ 400rg with efficiency η ≈ 15 per cent (luminosity L ∼ 50LEdd), similar to η ≈ 12 per cent for a Novikov–Thorne thin disc and beyond η ≲ 1 per cent seen in prior GRRMHD simulations or slim disc theory. Our simulations show how BH spin, magnetic field, and jet mass-loading affect these radiative and jet efficiencies.