Dissipation and Radiation of MRI-Driven Accretion Flows around Low Luminosity Black Holes

这个项目解决了黑洞吸积流中的等离子体耗散和辐射的前沿问题，当黑洞的密度如此低，以至于库仑耦合不足以加热电子时。以磁旋转不稳定性(MRI)产生的磁流体力学湍流为模板，利用粒子-单元程序和蒙特卡罗辐射程序，深入研究了等离子体激发和辐射的物理过程。这项研究具有潜在的变革性，因为它将微观物理过程与宏观模拟联系起来，解决了亚格子物理的新前沿。这项研究将影响所有核磁共振机制可能重要的吸积现象，并将在天体物理以外的大多数等离子体现象中有更广泛的应用。这项研究还让本科生和有才华的高中生接触到尖端的天体物理研究和超级计算机应用。用户友好的公共访问来自与休斯顿博物馆系统合作维护的活跃网站。该奖项由2009年美国复苏和再投资法案(公法111-5)资助。

AST-0909167LiangThis project addresses the frontier problems of plasma dissipation and radiation in accretion flows onto black holes, when the density is so low that Coulomb coupling is inadequate to heat the electrons. Using magnetohydrodynamic turbulence generated by the magneto-rotational-instability (MRI) as the template, the physics of plasma energization and radiation will be studied in depth, using Particle-in-Cell codes and Monte Carlo radiation codes. This research is potentially transformative as it tackles the new frontier of 'subgrid' physics, linking microphysical processes to macroscopic simulations.The study will impact all accretion phenomena in which the MRI mechanism may be important, as well as having much broader applications to most plasma phenomena beyond astrophysics. This research also exposes undergraduates and talented high school students to cutting-edge astrophysics research and supercomputer applications. User-friendly public access comes from an active website maintained in collaboration with the Houston museum system.This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).