Investigating Truncated Disk Simulations for Signs of Quasi Periodic Oscillations
Student: Filippo Savoia
Major: Astrophysics
Mentors: Dr. Chris Fragile
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Investigating Truncated Disk Simulations for Signs of Quasi Periodic Oscillations
Many accreting black holes, as well as neutron stars, exhibit rapid quasiperiodic oscillations (QPOs) in their Xray lightcurves, mainly when in the low/hard state. One model that has been especially successful at explaining the so-called type-C, low-frequency (≤10 Hz) QPO is based upon the Lense-Thirring precession of a compact, hot disk (An accretion disk is a structure formed by diffuse material in orbital motion around a massive central body) region.
The kind of precession envisioned by this model has been demonstrated in numerical simulations of isolated, tilted, thick disks. However, none of those simulations have included the surrounding thin disk. For this reason, in order to see the changes that happen when adding the surrounding thin disk, we are proposing to directly simulate a tilted, truncated disk geometry, including the outer thin disk.