Radiation GRMHD Simulations of the Hard State of Black Hole X-Ray Binaries and the Collapse of a Hot Accretion Flow

We present global radiation GRMHD simulations of strongly magnetized accretion onto a spinning, stellar mass black hole at sub-Eddington rates. Using a frequency-dependent Monte Carlo procedure for Compton scattering, we self-consistently evolve a two-temperature description of the ion–electron fluid and its radiation field. For an Eddington ratio L/LEdd ≳ 10−3, the emergent spectrum forms an apparent power-law shape from thermal Comptonization up to a cutoff at ≃100 keV, characteristic of that seen in the hard spectral states of black hole X-ray binary systems. At these luminosities, the radiative efficiency is high (≈24%) and results in a denser midplane region where magnetic fields are dynamically important. For L/LEdd ∼ 10−2, our hot accretion flow appears to undergo thermal runaway and collapse. Our simulations demonstrate that hot accretion flows can be radiatively efficient and provide an estimate of their maximum luminosity.