Image Details
Caption: Figure 1.
Cartoon illustrating the primary features of the quasar disk. Magnetic field lines are depicted in reddish orange. The velocity field is not depicted, but the radial velocity is ≳1%–10% of Keplerian throughout. Outer disk. The outer disk exhibits strong net toroidal flux, which supports a density scale height of aspect ratio H/r ≳ 0.2–0.5. The thermal and radiation pressure is subdominant. The disk contains “intermediate-scale,” ﹩{ \mathcal O }(H)﹩ poloidal field loops of alternating polarity. The effective photosphere is even more vertically extended than the disk. Inner disk. Intermediate-scale poloidal field loops in the outer disk are advected to the inner disk, where they are relatively large scale. This results in a magnetic state transition where the disk switches from having dominant net toroidal magnetic flux to dominant net vertical magnetic flux. The thermal pressure is still weak, but the radiation and magnetic pressures are approximately equal. The net vertical flux threading the inner disk enables radiation-dominated magnetized winds. If the BH rotates, it launches a relativistic R. D. Blandford & R. L. Znajek (1977) jet that is enveloped by these winds.
© 2025. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.