Evolution of circumbinary accretion disk around supermassive binary black hole: post-Newtonian hydrodynamics versus Newtonian hydrodynamics

Abstract

ABSTRACT We study the evolution of accretion disk around a supermassive binary black hole with equal mass using non-relativistic hydrodynamical simulations performed with FARGO3D. Compared with previous studies with the Newtonian hydrodynamics, here, we adopt the post-Newtonian (PN) hydrodynamics using the near zone metric of the binary black hole. In contrast to the Newtonian investigation, we find that there is a dramatic difference in the PN regime, gap formed by the circumbinary accretion disk around the binary with equal mass is wider with the PN hydrodynamics than that with the Newtonian hydrodynamics and is independent of disk viscosity given that hydrodynamical simulations are run for about the same factor times the viscous timescale associated with different viscosities. This may present unique observable signatures of the continuum emission in such binary-disk system.