RAIKOU (来光): A General Relativistic, Multiwavelength Radiative Transfer Code

Abstract

Abstract We present a general relativistic radiative transfer code RAIKOU (来光) for multiwavlength studies of spectra and images including the black hole shadows around Kerr black holes. Important radiative processes in hot plasmas around black holes, i.e., (cyclo-)synchrotron, bremsstrahlung emission/absorption, and Compton/inverse-Compton scattering, are incorporated. The Maxwell–Jüttner and single/broken power-law electron distribution functions are implemented to calculate the radiative transfer via both thermal and nonthermal electrons. Two calculation algorithms are implemented for studies of the images and broadband spectra. An observer-to-emitter ray-tracing algorithm, which inversely solves the radiative transfer equation from the observer screen to emitting plasmas, is suitable for an efficient calculations of the images, e.g., the black hole shadows observed by the Event Horizon Telescope, and spectra without Compton effects. On the other hand, an emitter-to-observer Monte Carlo algorithm, by which photons are transported with a Monte Carlo method including the effects of Compton/inverse-Compton scatterings, enables us to compute multiwavelength spectra, with their energy bands broadly ranging from radio to very high energy gamma-ray. The X-ray black hole shadows, which are formed via synchrotron emission and inverse-Compton scattering processes and will be observed in the future X-ray interferometry missions, can be also computed with this algorithm. The code is generally applicable to accretion flows around Kerr black holes with relativistic jets and winds/coronae with various mass accretion rates (i.e., radiatively inefficient accretion flows, super-Eddington accretion flows, and others). We demonstrate an application of the code to a radiatively inefficient accretion flow onto a supermassive black hole.