Dynamics of misaligned black hole accretion flows

Accretion discs allow rotating compact objects to gradually increase their mass. Most current investigations assume a simplified picture where the disc is smooth, planar, circular and aligned with the spin axis of the central object. Previous research has shown that relaxing these assumptions reveals effects that strongly impact the disc evolution - including the phenomenon of disc ‘tearing’, where the rotation of the compact object tears the misaligned disc into independently precessing rings. We investigate the evolution of an accretion disc where the orbital plane is misaligned to the spin axis of a rotating black hole using 3D numerical simulations.