Minidisk dynamics in accreting, spinning black hole binaries: Simulations in full general relativity

2021

We perform magnetohydrodynamic simulations of accreting, equal-mass binary black holes in full general relativity focusing on the impact of black hole spin on the dynamical formation and evolution of minidisks. We find that during the late inspiral the sizes of minidisks are primarily determined by the interplay between the tidal field and the effective innermost stable orbit around each black hole. Our calculations support that a minidisk forms when the Hill sphere around each black hole is significantly larger than the black hole's effective innermost stable orbit. As the binary inspirals, the radius of the Hill sphere decreases, and minidisk sconsequently shrink in size. As a result, ele…