Accretion-powered flares from black hole–disc collisions in galactic nuclei
4 affiliations
- 1Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik (Albert-Einstein-Institut) , Am Mühlenberg 1, D-14476 Potsdam-Golm ,
- 2Center of Gravitational Physics and Quantum Information, Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics , Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8502 ,
- 3Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802 ,
- 4The Pennsylvania State University Department of Physics, , University Park, PA 16802 ,
Abstract
Black hole impacts on accretion discs in galactic nuclei can power luminous transients, but predicting their observable signatures is challenging because the post-collision flow is highly time-dependent and inhomogeneous. We present a radiative post-processing framework for relativistic hydrodynamics simulations of black hole–disc collisions. Using physically motivated prescriptions for shock heating, optical depth via an eikonal solver, and photon escape fractions that account for photon trapping and diffusion, we predict light curves and spectral energy distributions over a range of disc densities and collision velocities. Our results indicate that the emission is dominated by the long-lived accretion flow onto the secondary black hole, whose mass supply is highly super-Eddington, rather than by cooling of the unbound ejecta. In the parameter range explored, the luminosity is typically of the order of the Eddington luminosity of the secondary and can reach several times this value, and the emission is generically dominated by soft X-rays. We find that lower velocity collisions produce brighter flares, while the disc surface density mainly controls spectral evolution: low-density discs typically produce ∼keV-peaked flares with weak spectral evolution, whereas high-density discs show softer early emission and late-time hardening. A depletion-time estimate calibrated to our results suggests characteristic durations of hours to days for intermediate-mass secondaries, and yields tflare∝PQPE. We discuss implications for QPE-like transients and for the SMBH-binary candidate OJ 287. Our framework does not include radiative feedback on the gas, therefore the luminosities should be interpreted only as baseline estimates of the available power for radiation.
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BibTeX
@article{pelle2026accretionpowered,
title = {{Accretion-powered flares from black hole–disc collisions in galactic nuclei}},
author = {Joaquin Pelle and Kyohei Kawaguchi and Masaru Shibata and Alan Tsz-Lok Lam},
journal = {Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.1093/mnras/stag2120},
url = {https://academic.oup.com/mnras/advance-article/doi/10.1093/mnras/stag2120/9013660},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Accretion-powered flares from black hole–disc collisions in galactic nuclei
AU - Joaquin Pelle
AU - Kyohei Kawaguchi
AU - Masaru Shibata
AU - Alan Tsz-Lok Lam
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/05
JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
DO - 10.1093/mnras/stag2120
UR - https://academic.oup.com/mnras/advance-article/doi/10.1093/mnras/stag2120/9013660
AB - Black hole impacts on accretion discs in galactic nuclei can power luminous transients, but predicting their observable signatures is challenging because the post-collision flow is highly time-dependent and inhomogeneous. We present a radiative post-processing framework for relativistic hydrodynamics simulations of black hole–disc collisions. Using physically motivated prescriptions for shock heating, optical depth via an eikonal solver, and photon escape fractions that account for photon trapping and diffusion, we predict light curves and spectral energy distributions over a range of disc densities and collision velocities. Our results indicate that the emission is dominated by the long-lived accretion flow onto the secondary black hole, whose mass supply is highly super-Eddington, rather than by cooling of the unbound ejecta. In the parameter range explored, the luminosity is typically of the order of the Eddington luminosity of the secondary and can reach several times this value, and the emission is generically dominated by soft X-rays. We find that lower velocity collisions produce brighter flares, while the disc surface density mainly controls spectral evolution: low-density discs typically produce ∼keV-peaked flares with weak spectral evolution, whereas high-density discs show softer early emission and late-time hardening. A depletion-time estimate calibrated to our results suggests characteristic durations of hours to days for intermediate-mass secondaries, and yields tflare∝PQPE. We discuss implications for QPE-like transients and for the SMBH-binary candidate OJ 287. Our framework does not include radiative feedback on the gas, therefore the luminosities should be interpreted only as baseline estimates of the available power for radiation.
SN - 0035-8711
SN - 1365-2966
ER -