Volume 342, Issue 3 pp. 851-860

Transfer of energy and angular momentum in the magnetic coupling between a rotating black hole and the surrounding accretion disc

Ding-Xiong Wang

Corresponding Author

Ding-Xiong Wang

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Wei-Hua Lei

Wei-Hua Lei

Department of Physics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China

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Ren-Yi Ma

Ren-Yi Ma

Department of Physics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China

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First published: 20 June 2003
Citations: 5

ABSTRACT

The transfer of energy and angular momentum in the magnetic coupling (MC) of a rotating black hole (BH) with its surrounding accretion disc is discussed based on a mapping relation derived by considering the conservation of magnetic flux with two basic assumptions: (i) the magnetic field on the horizon is constant, (ii) the magnetic field on the disc surface varies as a power law with the radial coordinate of the disc. The following results are obtained: (i) the transfer direction of energy and angular momentum between the BH and the disc depends on the position of a co-rotation radius relative to the MC region on the disc, which is eventually determined by the BH spin; (ii) the evolution characteristics of a rotating BH in the MC process without disc accretion are depicted in a parameter space, and a series of values of the BH spin are given to indicate the evolution characteristics; (iii) the efficiency of converting accreted mass into radiation energy of a BH–disc system is discussed by considering the coexistence of disc accretion and the MC process; (iv) the MC effects on disc radiation and the emissivity index are discussed and it is concluded that they are consistent with the recent XMM–Newton observation of the nearby bright Seyfert 1 galaxy MCG–6-30-15 with reference to a variety of parameters of the BH–disc system.

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