Publication Date:
2016-11-16
Description:
In an early work, the Rossby wave instability was proposed to explain the variability thought to originate in the close vicinity of black holes but this was done in the pseudo-Newtonian approach. Here we present the first general relativistic (GR) hydrodynamics simulations of this instability not only proving its theorized existence in a full GR environment but also studying the effect of the strong gravity on the instability. To that end, we performed a set of simulations increasingly closer to the black hole with our new GR version of the MPI-AMRVAC code. This allows us to study the minute changes in the behaviour of the instability. We found that a pseudo-Newtonian approach gives adequate results provided that the time-shifting induced by the black hole gravity is taken into account. Hence, to view the disc as a distant observer would, a full GR ray-tracing post-treatment of the simulations is a must.
Print ISSN:
0035-8711
Electronic ISSN:
1365-2966
Topics:
Physics
