Radiatively efficient disks around Kerr black holes

S. Campitiello, G. Ghisellini, T. Sbarrato, G. Calderone

Published 2017-01-31Version 1

The properties of the radiation emitted by the accretion disk around rotating black holes have been studied only recently, due to the difficulties in calculating relativistic effects caused by the strong gravitational field and to the large velocities of the matter in the vicinity of the last stable circular orbit. A numerical approach is required, as done by Li and collaborators, for the case of star-sized black holes. In this paper we build upon this numerical treatment trying to interpolate the numerical results with simple analytical functions, that can be used for black holes of any size and spin. We especially emphasize the pattern of the produced radiation, namely the flux produced as a function of the angle \theta\ between the line of sight and the normal of the disk, and the rotation of both the black hole and the disk. Light bending and relativistic beaming concur to enhance the flux observable at large \theta\ (i.e. edge on), contrary to the standard cos \theta\ pattern of disk emission around Schwarzschild black holes.