Polarization Signatures of Quasiperiodic Oscillations in Simulated Tilted, Truncated Disks

Abstract

We utilize the Monte Carlo radiation transport code, Pandurata, to create images, spectra, polarization maps, and light curves from a set of general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of tilted, truncated, black hole accretion disks. Truncation can have spectral and polarization signatures all its own, tilt introduces both inclination and azimuthal dependencies into the spectra and polarization, and precession and oscillations of the tilted accretion flow inside the truncation radius introduce time dependencies or periodicity to all of this. We use the ray-traced results from our simulations to evaluate the feasibility of measuring these effects, particularly in the context of current and future X-ray polarization observatories. Such detections could greatly improve our understanding of the geometry of accretion disks and coronae in the hard state, the physics of quasiperiodic oscillations, and how system properties evolve as sources approach the hard-to-soft state transition. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.