Radiation Pressure Instability-Driven Variability of Line-Driven Disk Winds in AGNs: Connection to Periodic Luminosity Variations and UFO Appearance

Abstract

We investigated the temporal variability of line-driven disk winds induced by radiation pressure instability in accretion disks surrounding supermassive black holes. This is the first study to self-consistently couple one-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of accretion disks with two-dimensional radiation hydrodynamic simulations of line-driven winds and to analyze their time-dependent evolution. Our results show that periodic luminosity oscillations caused by radiation pressure instability lead to corresponding changes in both the mass outflow rate and the covering factor of gas expected to be observed as ultra-fast outflows (UFOs), with a delay comparable to the viscous timescale around the wind base. The viewing angles from which UFOs are expected to be observed also change with time. Our results therefore imply that, depending on the viewing angle, UFOs may not be detected even during high-luminosity states, whereas they may be detected even at lower luminosities. These findings are consistent with observations showing that UFOs are not always detected at high luminosities and can sometimes be detected even at lower luminosities. For a black hole mass of $10^{7.4}M_\odot$, a mass accretion rate of $1.3L_{\rm Edd}/c^2$ at a radius of about 100 Schwarzschild radii, a viscosity parameter of $α=0.1$, and a viscosity prescription parameter of $μ=0.45$, the mass outflow rate shows a delay of approximately 2--5 yr relative to the luminosity variation, and the covering factor consequently reaches a maximum of $\sim 30\%$ from the high-luminosity phase through the declining phase. Our results suggest that the intermittent detection of UFOs in luminosity-variable AGNs can be explained by radiation pressure instability driven variability of the line-driven disk winds.