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Using grid-based hydrodynamics simulations and analytic modeling, we compute the electromagnetic (EM) signatures of gravitational wave (GW) driven inspirals of massive black hole binaries that accrete gas from circumbinary disks, exploring the effects of varying gas temperatures, viscosity laws, and binary mass ratios. Our main finding is that active galactic nuclei (AGN's) that host inspiraling binaries can exhibit two sub-types of long-term secular variability patterns: Type-A events which dim before merger and brighten afterward, and Type-B events which brighten before merger and dim afterward. In both types the merger coincides with a long-lasting chromatic change of the AGN appearance. The sub-types correspond to the direction of angular momentum transfer between the binary and the disk, and could thus have correlated GW signatures if the gas-induced torque can be inferred from GW phase drift measurements by LISA. The long-term brightness trends are caused by steady weakening of the disk-binary torque that accompanies orbital decay, it induces a hysteresis effect whereby the disk "remembers" the history of the binary's contraction. We illustrate the effect using a reduced model problem of an axisymmetric thin disk subjected at its inner edge to the weakening torque of an inspiraling binary. The model problem yields a new class of self-similar disk solutions, which capture salient features of the multi-dimensional hydrodynamics simulations. We use these solutions to derive variable AGN disk emission signatures within years to decades of massive black hole binary mergers in AGN's. Spectral changes of Mrk 1018 might have been triggered by an inspiral-merger event., Comment: Submitted to MNRAS

We demonstrate that gas disks around binary systems might deliver gas to the binary components only when the circumbinary disk is relatively warm. We present new grid-based hydrodynamics simulations, performed with the binary on the grid and a locally isothermal equation of state, in which the binary is seen to functionally ``stop accreting'' if the orbital Mach number in the disk exceeds a threshold value of about 40. Above this threshold, the disk continues to extract angular momentum from the binary orbit, but it delivers very little mass to the black holes, and instead piles up mass in a ring surrounding the binary. This ring will eventually become viscously relaxed and deliver mass to the binary at the large-scale inflow rate. However we show that the timescale for such relaxation can far exceed the implied binary lifetime. We demonstrate that the ability of a binary-disk system to equilibrate is dependent on the efficiency at which accretion streams deposit mass onto the binary; which in turn is highly sensitive to the thermodynamic conditions of the inner disk. If disks around massive black hole binaries do operate in such non-accreting regimes, it suggests these systems may be dimmer than their single black hole counterparts, but could exhibit dramatic re-brightening after the black holes in-spiral and merge. This dimming occurs at high photon energies, corresponding to the effective truncation of the circumbinary disk. As a result, such system may be underluminous in UV bands and missing X-ray emission entirely, potentially resembling the spectra of `Little Red Dots'' recently identified in JWST observations., Comment: 9 pages and 4 figures

We present a theoretical study of the gravitational wave (GW) driven inspirals of accreting black hole binaries with mass $M = 10^7 M_\odot$ and mass ratios between $10^{-3}$ and $10^{-1}$. Our results are based on analytic estimates, and grid-based hydrodynamics simulations run for many thousands of binary orbits before the merger. We show that the GW inspiral is evident in the light curves and color evolution of a binary-hosting quasar, over years to decades before a merger. The long-term electromagnetic (EM) signature is characterized by a gradual UV brightening, and X-ray dimming, followed by an X-ray disappearance hours to days before the GW burst, and finally a years-like re-brightening as the disk relaxes and refuels the remnant black hole. These timescales are surprisingly insensitive to the amplitude of viscous stress in the disk. The spectrum of quasi-thermal disk emission shows two peaks: one in the UV, and another in the X-ray, associated with the outer and circum-secondary disks respectively; emission from the inner disk is suppressed because the secondary consumes most of the inflowing gas. We discuss implications for real-time and archival EM followup of GW bursts detected by LISA., Comment: 15 pages, 15 figures

Recent hydrodynamical simulations have shown that circumbinary gas disks drive the orbits of binary black holes to become eccentric, even when general relativistic corrections to the orbit are significant. Here, we study the general relativistic (GR) apsidal precession of eccentric equal-mass binary black holes in circumbinary disks (CBDs) via two-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations. We perform a suite of simulations comparing precessing and non-precessing binaries across a range of eccentricities, semi-major axes, and precession rates. We find that the GR precession of the binary's semi-major axis can introduce a dominant modulation in the binary's accretion rate and the corresponding high-energy electromagnetic light-curves. We discuss the conditions under which this occurs and its detailed characteristics and mechanism. Finally, we discuss the potential to observe these precession signatures in electromagnetic and gravitational wave (GW) observations, as well as the precession signal's unique importance as a potential tool to constrain the mass, eccentricity, and semi-major axis of binary merger events., Comment: 19 pages, 17 figures. Submitted to ApJ

We have performed numerical calculations of a binary interacting with a gas disk, using eleven different numerical methods and a standard binary-disk setup. The goal of this study is to determine whether all codes agree on a numerically converged solution, and to determine the necessary resolution for convergence and the number of binary orbits that must be computed to reach an agreed-upon relaxed state of the binary-disk system. We find that all codes can agree on a converged solution (depending on the diagnostic being measured). The zone spacing required for most codes to reach a converged measurement of the torques applied to the binary by the disk is roughly 1% of the binary separation in the vicinity of the binary components. For our disk model to reach a relaxed state, codes must be run for at least 200 binary orbits, corresponding to about a viscous time for our parameters, $0.2 (a^2 \Omega_B /\nu)$ binary orbits, where $\nu$ is the kinematic viscosity. We did not investigate dependence on binary mass ratio, eccentricity, disk temperature, or disk viscosity; therefore, these benchmarks may act as guides towards expanding converged solutions to the wider parameter space but might need to be updated in a future study that investigates dependence on system parameters. We find the most major discrepancies between codes resulted from the dimensionality of the setup (3D vs 2D disks). Beyond this, we find good agreement in the total torque on the binary between codes, although the partition of this torque between the gravitational torque, orbital accretion torque, and spin accretion torque depends sensitively on the sink prescriptions employed. In agreement with previous studies, we find a modest difference in torques and accretion variability between 2D and 3D disk models. We find cavity precession rates to be appreciably faster in 3D than in 2D., Comment: ApJ Accepted

Circumbinary disks are found in a variety of astrophysical scenarios, spanning binary star formation to accreting supermassive black hole binaries. The interaction with a circumbinary disk can yield opposite effects on the binary orbit leading to circularization, or exciting the eccentricity, widening the orbit or shrinking it and facilitating mergers. We present a new formalism for the long-term evolution of the disk-binary interaction based on the results of recent suites of hydrodynamic simulations, which resolve the complex geometry of the gas in the vicinity of the binary and fully account for the gravitational and accretion forces. We release a python package, \texttt{spindler}, that implements our model. We show that, unless the mass reservoir feeding the disk is comparable to the mass of the binary, accretion onto the binary depletes the disk mass before inducing a significant change in orbital separation or mass ratio. This finding implies that, in most scenarios, interaction with a circumbinary disk is not an efficient mechanism to shrink the orbit of the binary. However, as long as the mass of the disk is at least a few percent of the mass of the binary, the interaction can excite the eccentricity up to an equilibrium value, and induce a statistical correlation between mass ratio and eccentricity. We consider the applicability of our model to a variety of astrophysical scenarios: during star formation, in evolved stellar binaries, triples and in supermassive black hole binaries. We discuss the theoretical and observational implications of our predictions., Comment: 19 pages, 12 figures, 5 tables. Accepted in A&A. Comments welcome. Spindler available as a Python package on Zenodo: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10529060, and on github https://github.com/ruggero-valli/spindler. C-based version on https://github.com/ruggero-valli/spindler-c

We present high-resolution spectra and spectroastrometric (SA) measurements of fundamental rovibrational CO emission from nine nearby ($\lesssim$300 pc) protoplanetary disks where large inner dust cavities have been observed. The emission line profiles and SA signals are fit with a slab disk model that allows the eccentricity of the disk and intensity of the emission to vary as power laws. Six of the sources are well fit with our model, and three of these sources show asymmetric line profiles that can be fit by adopting a non-zero eccentricity. The three other sources have components in either their line profile or SA signal that are not captured by our disk model. Two of these sources (V892 Tau, CQ Tau) have multi-epoch observations that reveal significant variability. CQ Tau and AB Aur have CO line profiles with centrally-peaked components that are similar to line profiles that have been interpreted as evidence of molecular gas arising from a wide-angle disk wind. Alternatively, emission from a circumplanetary disk (CPD) could also account for this component. The interpretations of these results can be clarified in the future with additional epochs that will test the variability timescale of these SA signals. We discuss the utility of using high-resolution spectroscopy for probing the dynamics of gas in the disk and the scenarios that can give rise to profiles that are not fit with a simple disk model., Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, 4 tables; accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal

Self-lensing flares (SLFs) are expected to be produced once or twice per orbit by an accreting massive black hole binary (MBHB), if the eclipsing MBHBs are observed close to edge-on. SLFs can provide valuable electromagnetic (EM) signatures to accompany the gravitational waves (GWs) detectable by the upcoming Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). EM follow-ups are crucial for, e.g., sky-localization, and constraining the Hubble constant and the graviton mass. We use high-resolution two-dimensional viscous hydrodynamical simulations of a circumbinary disk (CBD) embedding a MBHB. We then use very high-cadence output of these hydrodynamical simulation inputs for a general-relativistic ray-tracing code to produce synthetic spectra and phase-folded light curves. Our main results show a significant periodic amplification of the flux with the characteristic shape of a sharp flare with a central dip, as the foreground black hole (BH) transits across the minidisk and shadow of the background BH, respectively. These corroborate previous conclusions based on the microlensing approximation and analytical toy models of the emission geometry. We also find that at lower inclinations, without some occlusion of the minidisk emission by the CBD, shocks from quasi-periodic mass-trading between the minidisks can produce bright flares which can mimic SLFs and could hinder their identification., Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures, submitted to journal, split Fig. 1 by frequency, fixed some typos

Observations and theory suggest that core-collapse supernovae can span a range of explosion energies, and when sub-energetic, the shockwave initiating the explosion can decelerate to speeds comparable to the escape speed of the progenitor. In these cases, gravity will complicate the explosion hydrodynamics and conceivably cause the shock to stall at large radii within the progenitor star. To understand these unique properties of weak explosions, we develop a perturbative approach for modeling the propagation of an initially strong shock into a time-steady, infalling medium in the gravitational field of a compact object. This method writes the shock position and the post-shock velocity, density, and pressure as series solutions in the (time-dependent) ratio of the freefall speed to the shock speed, and predicts that the shock stalls within the progenitor if the explosion energy is below a critical value. We show that our model agrees very well with hydrodynamic simulations, and accurately predicts (e.g.) the time-dependent shock position and velocity and the radius at which the shock stalls. Our results have implications for black hole formation and the newly detected class of fast X-ray transients (FXTs). In particular, we propose that a ``phantom shock breakout'' -- where the outer edge of the star falls through a stalled shock -- can yield a burst of X-rays without a subsequent optical/UV signature, similar to FXTs. This model predicts the rise time of the X-ray burst, $t_{\rm d}$, and the mean photon energy, $kT$, are anti-correlated, approximately as $T \propto t_{\rm d}^{-5/8}$., Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures, Accepted to ApJ, Matches accepted version

PG 1553+113 is a well-known blazar exhibiting evidence of a $\sim\! 2.2$-yr quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) in radio, optical, X-ray, and $\gamma$-ray bands. Since QPO mechanisms often predict multiple QPOs, we search for a second QPO in its historical optical light curve covering a century of observations. Despite challenging data quality issues, we find hints of a $21.8 \pm 4.7$ yr oscillation. On its own, this $\sim\! 22$-yr period has a modest statistical significance of $1.6\sigma$ when accounting for the look-elsewhere effect. However, the joint significance of both the $2.2$- and $22$-yr periods arising from colored noise alone is $\sim 3.6\sigma$. The next peak of the 22-yr oscillation is predicted to occur around July 2025. We find that such a $\sim\,$10:1 relation between two periods can arise in the gas dynamics of a plausible supermassive black hole binary model of PG 1553+113. While the 22-yr QPO is preliminary, an interpretation of PG 1553+113's two QPOs in this binary model suggests that the binary engine has a mass ratio $\gtrsim 0.2$, an eccentricity $\lesssim 0.1$, and accretes from a disk with characteristic aspect ratio $\sim 0.03$. The putative binary radiates nHz gravitational waves, but the amplitude is $\sim10-100$ times too low for detection by foreseeable pulsar timing arrays., Comment: 20 pages, 15 figures, 1 table

We show that gas disks around the components of an orbiting binary system (so-called minidisks) may be susceptible to a resonant instability which causes the minidisks to become significantly eccentric. Eccentricity is injected by, and also induces, regular impacts between the minidisks at roughly the orbital period of the binary. Such eccentric minidisks are seen in vertically integrated, two-dimensional simulations of a circular, equal-mass binary accreting from a circumbinary gas disk with a $\Gamma$-law equation of state. Minidisk eccentricity is suppressed by the use of an isothermal equation of state. However, the instability still operates, and can be revealed in a minimal disk-binary simulation by removing the circumbinary disk, and feeding the minidisks from the component positions. Minidisk eccentricity is also suppressed when the gravitational softening length is large ($\gtrsim 4\%$ of the binary semi-major axis), suggesting that its absence could be an artifact of widely adopted numerical approximations; a follow-up study in three dimensions with well-resolved, geometrically thin minidisks (aspect ratios $\lesssim 0.02$) may be needed to assess whether eccentric minidisks can occur in real astrophysical environments. If they can, the electromagnetic signature may be important for discriminating between binary and single black hole scenarios for quasi-periodic oscillations in active galactic nuclei; in turn, this might aid in targeted searches with pulsar timing arrays for individual supermassive black hole binary sources of low-frequency gravitational waves., Comment: 5 Mb, 22 pages, video content URLs provided in the captions to Figures 5, 6, 9, 11, and 15. Version 2 is close to the published, open-access version (see the DOI to the journal version below)

With its capacity to observe $\sim 10^{5-6}$ faint active galactic nuclei (AGN) out to redshift $z\approx 6$, Roman is poised to reveal a population of $10^{4-6}\, {\rm M_\odot}$ black holes during an epoch of vigorous galaxy assembly. By measuring the light curves of a subset of these AGN and looking for periodicity, Roman can identify several hundred massive black hole binaries (MBHBs) with 5-12 day orbital periods, which emit copious gravitational radiation and will inevitably merge on timescales of $10^{3-5}$ years. During the last few months of their merger, such binaries are observable with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), a joint ESA/NASA gravitational wave mission set to launch in the mid-2030s. Roman can thus find LISA precursors, provide uniquely robust constraints on the LISA source population, help identify the host galaxies of LISA mergers, and unlock the potential of multi-messenger astrophysics with massive black hole binaries., Comment: White Paper for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope's Core Community Surveys (https://roman.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/ccs_white_papers.html)

The upcoming Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is expected to detect gravitational waves (GWs) from massive black hole binaries (MBHB). Finding the electromagnetic (EM) counterparts for these GW events will be crucial for understanding how and where MBHBs merge, measuring their redshifts, constraining the Hubble constant and the graviton mass, and for other novel science applications. However, due to poor GW sky localisation, multi-wavelength, time-dependent electromagnetic (EM) models are needed to identify the right host galaxy among many candidates. We studied merging MBHBs embedded in a circumbinary disc using high-resolution two-dimensional simulations, with a $\Gamma$-law equation of state, incorporating viscous heating, shock heating, and radiative cooling. We simulate the binary from large separation until after merger, allowing us to model the decoupling of the binary from the circumbinary disc (CBD). We compute the EM signatures and identify distinct features before, during, and after the merger. Our main result is a multi-band EM signature: we find that the MBHB produces strong thermal X-ray emission until 1-2 days prior to the merger. However, as the binary decouples from the CBD, the X-ray-bright minidiscs rapidly shrink in size, become disrupted, and the accretion rate drops precipitously. As a result, the thermal X-ray luminosity drops by orders of magnitude, and the source remains X-ray dark for several days after the merger, regardless of any post-merger effects such as GW recoil or mass loss. Looking for the abrupt spectral change where the thermal X-ray disappears is a tell-tale EM signature of LISA mergers that does not require extensive pre-merger monitoring., Comment: 14 pages, 16 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Compact binary mergers involving at least one neutron star are promising sites for the synthesis of $\textit{r}$-process elements found in stars and planets. However, mergers can take place at significant offsets from their host galaxies, with many occurring several kpc from star-forming regions. It is thus important to understand the physical mechanisms involved in transporting enriched material from merger sites in the galactic halo to the star-forming disk. We investigate these processes, starting from an explosive injection event and its interaction with the halo medium. We show that the total outflow mass in compact binary mergers is too low for the material to travel to the disk in a ballistic fashion. Instead, the enriched ejecta is swept into a shell, which decelerates over $\lesssim 10$ pc scales and becomes corrugated by the Rayleigh-Taylor instability. The corrugated shell is denser than the ambient medium, and breaks into clouds which sink toward the disk. These sinking clouds lose thermal energy through radiative cooling, and are also ablated by shearing instabilities. We present a dynamical heuristic that models these effects to predict the delay times for delivery to the disk. However, we find that turbulent mass ablation is extremely efficient, and leads to the total fragmentation of sinking $\textit{r}$-process clouds over $10-100$ pc scales. We thus predict that enriched material from halo injection events quickly assimilates into the gas medium of the halo, and that enriched mass flow to the disk could only be accomplished through turbulent diffusion or large-scale inflowing mass currents., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures

The stellar cataclysms producing astronomical transients have long been modeled as either a point-like explosion or jet-like engine ignited at the center of a spherically symmetric star. However, many stars are observed, or are expected on theoretical grounds, not to be precisely spherically symmetric, but rather to have a slightly flattened geometry similar to that of an oblate spheroid. Here we present axisymmetric two-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of the dynamics of point-like explosions initiated at the center of an aspherical massive star with a range of oblateness. We refer to these exploding aspherical stars as "ellipsars" in reference to the elliptical shape of the iso-density contours of their progenitors in the two-dimensional axisymmetric case. We find that ellipsars are capable of accelerating expanding rings of relativistic ejecta which may lead to the production of astronomical transients including low-luminosity GRBs, relativistic supernovae, and Fast Blue Optical Transients (FBOTs.), Comment: Edit: Update to remove typo introduced in the revision on version 2

Core-collapse supernovae can display evidence of interaction with pre-existing, circumstellar shells of material by rebrightening and forming spectral lines, and can even change types as Hydrogen appears in previously Hydrogen-poor spectra. However, a recently observed core-collapse supernova -- SN 2019tsf -- was found to brighten after roughly 100 days after it was first observed, suggesting that the supernova ejecta was interacting with surrounding material, but it lacked any observable emission lines and thereby challenged the standard supernova-interaction picture. We show through linear perturbation theory that delayed rebrightenings without the formation of spectral lines are generated as a consequence of the finite sound crossing time of the post-shock gas left in the wake of a supernova explosion. In particular, we demonstrate that sound waves -- generated in the post-shock flow as a consequence of the interaction between a shock and a density enhancement -- traverse the shocked ejecta and impinge upon the shock from behind in a finite time, generating sudden changes in the shock properties in the absence of ambient density enhancements. We also show that a blastwave dominated by gas pressure and propagating in a wind-fed medium is unstable from the standpoint that small perturbations lead to the formation of reverse shocks within the post-shock flow, implying that the gas within the inner regions of these blastwaves should be highly turbulent., Comment: 32 pages, 16 figures, submitted to ApJ

We use long-run, high-resolution hydrodynamics simulations to compute the multi-wavelength light curves (LCs) from thermal disk emission around accreting equal-mass supermassive black hole (BH) binaries, with a focus on revealing binary eccentricity. LCs are obtained by modeling the disk thermodynamics with an adiabatic equation of state, a local blackbody cooling prescription, and corrections to approximate the effects of radiation pressure. We find that modulation of multi-band LCs on the orbital time scale are generally in-phase (to within $\sim\,$2% of a binary orbital period), but they contain pulse substructure in the time domain that is not necessarily reflected in BH accretion rates $\dot M$. We thus predict that binary-hosting AGN will exhibit highly correlated, in-phase, periodic brightness modulations in their low-energy disk emission. However, detectability of these modulations in multi-wavelength observing campaigns could be seriously compromised because observed stochastic variability in AGNs typically has a higher amplitude than our proposed signal. It is possible that observations over temporal baselines of many binary periods may make the signal more prominent, but this would need to be analyzed carefully. If jet emission is predicted by $\dot{M}$, then we predict a weaker correlation with low-energy disk emission due to the differing sub-peak structure. For the binary parameters we explore, we show that LC variability due to hydrodynamics likely dominates Doppler brightening for all equal-mass binaries with disk Mach numbers $\lesssim 20$. A promising signature of eccentricity is weak or absent "lump" periodicity. We find hints that a significant lag exists between $\dot{M}$ and low-energy disk emission for circular binaries, but they are in-phase for eccentric binaries, which might explain some "orphan" blazar flares with no $\gamma$-ray counterpart., Comment: v6: accepted version (PRD)

Linear analysis of gas flows around orbiting binaries suggests that a centrifugal barrier ought to clear a low-density cavity around the binary and inhibit mass transfer onto it. Modern hydrodynamics simulations have confirmed the low-density cavity, but show that any mass flowing from large scales into the circumbinary disk is eventually transferred onto the binary components. Even though many numerical studies confirm this picture, it is still not understood precisely how gas parcels overcome the centrifugal barrier and ultimately accrete. We present a detailed analysis of the binary accretion process, using an accurate prescription for evolving grid-based hydrodynamics with Lagrangian tracer particles that track the trajectories of individual gas parcels. We find that binary accretion can be described in four phases: (1) gas is viscously transported through the circumbinary disk up to the centrifugal barrier at the cavity wall, (2) the cavity wall is tidally distorted into accretion streams consisting of near-ballistic gas parcels on eccentric orbits, (3) the portion of each stream moving inwards of an ``accretion horizon'' radius $\bar r \simeq a$ -- the radius beyond which no material is returned to the cavity wall -- becomes bound to a minidisk orbiting an individual binary component, and (4) the minidisk gas accretes onto the binary component through the combined effect of viscous and tidal stresses., Comment: Published in ApJ; 18 pages, 16 figures

During the final stages of a compact object merger, if at least one of the binary components is a magnetized neutron star (NS), then its orbital motion substantially expands the NS's open magnetic flux -- and hence increases its wind luminosity -- relative to that of an isolated pulsar. As the binary orbit shrinks due to gravitational radiation, the power and speed of this binary-induced inspiral wind may (depending on pair loading) secularly increase, leading to self-interaction and internal shocks in the outflow beyond the binary orbit. The magnetized forward shock can generate coherent radio emission via the synchrotron maser process, resulting in an observable radio precursor to binary NS merger. We perform 1D relativistic hydrodynamical simulations of shock interaction in the accelerating binary NS wind, assuming that the inspiral wind efficiently converts its Poynting flux into bulk kinetic energy prior to the shock radius. This is combined with the shock maser spectrum from particle-in-cell simulations, to generate synthetic radio light curves. The precursor burst with a fluence of $\sim1$ Jy$\cdot$ms at $\sim$GHz frequencies lasts $\sim 1-500$ ms following the merger for a source at $\sim3$ Gpc ($B_{\rm d}/10^{12}$ G)$^{8/9}$, where $B_{\rm d}$ is the dipole field strength of the more strongly-magnetized star. Given an outflow geometry concentrated along the binary equatorial, the signal may be preferentially observable for high-inclination systems, i.e. those least likely to produce a detectable gamma-ray burst., Comment: Published version; 19 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables

Using high-resolution hydrodynamics simulations, we show that equal-mass binaries accreting from a circumbinary disk evolve toward an orbital eccentricity of $e \simeq 0.45$, unless they are initialized on a nearly circular orbit with $e \lesssim 0.08$, in which case they further circularize. The implied bi-modal eccentricity distribution resembles that seen in post-AGB stellar binaries. Large accretion spikes around periapse impart a tell-tale, quasi-periodic, bursty signature on the light curves of eccentric binaries. We predict that intermediate-mass and massive black hole binaries at $z \lesssim 10$ entering the \emph{LISA} band will have measurable eccentricities in the range $e \simeq 10^{-3} - 10^{-2}$, if they have experienced a gas-driven phase. On the other hand, GW190521 would have entered the LIGO/Virgo band with undetectable eccentricity $\sim 10^{-6}$ if it had been driven into the gravitational wave regime by a gas disk., Comment: Published in ApJL

Numerical studies of gas accretion onto supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) have generally been limited to conditions where the circumbinary disk (CBD) is 10-100 times thicker than expected for disks in active galactic nuclei (AGN). This discrepancy arises from technical limitations, and also from publication bias toward replicating fiducial numerical models. Here we present the first systematic study of how the binary's orbital evolution varies with disk scale height. We report three key results: (1) Binary orbital evolution switches from outspiralling for warm disks (aspect ratio ~0.1), to inspiralling for more realistic cooler, thinner disks at a critical aspect ratio ~0.04, corresponding to orbital Mach number ~25. (2) The net torque on the binary arises from a competition between positive torque from gas orbiting close to the black holes, and negative torque from the inner edge of the CBD, which is denser for thinner disks. This leads to increasingly negative net torques on the binary for increasingly thin disks. (3) The accretion rate is modestly suppressed with increasing Mach number. We discuss how our results may influence modeling of the nano-Hz gravitational wave background, as well as estimates of the LISA merger event rate., Comment: Published in ApJ

Using numerical hydrodynamics calculations and a novel method for densely sampling parameter space, we measure the accretion and torque on a binary system from a circumbinary disk. In agreement with previous studies, we find that the net torque on the binary is positive for mass ratios close to unity, and that accretion always drives the binary towards equal mass. Accretion variability depends sensitively on the numerical sink prescription, but the torque and relative accretion onto each component do not depend on the sink timescale. Positive torque and highly variable accretion occurs only for mass ratios greater than around $0.05$. This means that for mass ratios below $0.05$, the binary would migrate inward until the secondary accreted sufficient mass, after which it would execute a U-turn and migrate outward. We explore a range of viscosities, from $\alpha = 0.03$ to $\alpha = 0.15$, and find that this outward torque is proportional to the viscous torque, simply proportional to viscosity in this range. Dependence of accretion and torque on mass ratio is explored in detail, densely sampling mass ratios between $0.01$ and unity. For mass ratio $q > 0.6$, accretion variability is found to exhibit a distinct sawtooth pattern, typically with a five-orbit cycle that provides a "smoking gun" prediction for variable quasars observed over long periods, as a potential means to confirm the presence of a binary., Comment: ApJ Accepted

We investigate the self-consistent particle acceleration physics associated with the development of the kink instability (KI) in nonrelativistic, electron-ion plasma jets. Using 3D fully kinetic particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations, we show that the KI efficiently converts the initial toroidal magnetic field energy into energetic ions. The accelerated ions form a nonthermal power-law tail in the energy spectrum, containing $\simeq10\%$ of the initial magnetic field energy, and with the maximum ion energy extending to the confinement energy of the jet. We find that the ions are efficiently accelerated by the concerted action of the motional electric field and highly tangled magnetic field that develop in the nonlinear phase of the KI: fast curvature drift motions of ions across magnetic field lines enable their acceleration along the electric field. We further investigate the role of Coulomb collisions on the ion acceleration efficiency, and identify the collisional threshold above which nonthermal ion acceleration is suppressed. Our results reveal how energetic ions may result from unstable nonrelativistic plasma jets in space and astrophysics, and provide constraints on the plasma conditions required to reproduce this acceleration mechanism in laboratory experiments.

The field of time-domain astrophysics has entered the era of Multi-messenger Astronomy (MMA). One key science goal for the next decade (and beyond) will be to characterize gravitational wave (GW) and neutrino sources using the next generation of Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs). These studies will have a broad impact across astrophysics, informing our knowledge of the production and enrichment history of the heaviest chemical elements, constrain the dense matter equation of state, provide independent constraints on cosmology, increase our understanding of particle acceleration in shocks and jets, and study the lives of black holes in the universe. Future GW detectors will greatly improve their sensitivity during the coming decade, as will near-infrared telescopes capable of independently finding kilonovae from neutron star mergers. However, the electromagnetic counterparts to high-frequency (LIGO/Virgo band) GW sources will be distant and faint and thus demand ELT capabilities for characterization. ELTs will be important and necessary contributors to an advanced and complete multi-messenger network., Comment: White paper submitted to the Astro2020 Decadal Survey

Magnetar flares excite strong Alfv\'{e}n waves in the magnetosphere of the neutron star. The wave energy can (1) dissipate in the magnetosphere, (2) convert to "fast modes" and possibly escape, and (3) penetrate the neutron star crust and dissipate there. We examine and compare the three options. Particularly challenging are nonlinear interactions between strong waves, which develop a cascade to small dissipative scales. This process can be studied in the framework of force-free electrodynamics (FFE). We perform three-dimensional FFE simulations to investigate Alfv\'{e}n wave dissipation, how long it takes, and how it depends on the initial wave amplitude on the driving scale. In the simulations, we launch two large Alfv\'{e}n wave packets that keep bouncing on closed magnetic field lines and collide repeatedly until the full turbulence spectrum develops. Besides dissipation due to the turbulent cascade, we find that in some simulations spurious energy losses occur immediately in the first collisions. This effect occurs in special cases where the FFE description breaks. It is explained with a simple one-dimensional model, which we examine in both FFE and full magnetohydrodynamic settings. We find that magnetospheric dissipation through nonlinear wave interactions is relatively slow and more energy is drained into the neutron star. The wave energy deposited into the star is promptly dissipated through plastic crustal flows induced at the bottom of the liquid ocean, and a fraction of the generated heat is radiated from the stellar surface.

Relativistic magnetized jets from active galaxies are among the most powerful cosmic accelerators, but their particle acceleration mechanisms remain a mystery. We present a new acceleration mechanism associated with the development of the helical kink instability in relativistic jets, which leads to the efficient conversion of the jet's magnetic energy into nonthermal particles. Large-scale three-dimensional ab initio simulations reveal that the formation of highly tangled magnetic fields and a large-scale inductive electric field throughout the kink-unstable region promotes rapid energization of the particles. The energy distribution of the accelerated particles develops a well-defined power-law tail extending to the radiation-reaction limited energy in the case of leptons, and to the confinement energy of the jet in the case of ions. When applied to the conditions of well-studied bright knots in jets from active galaxies, this mechanism can account for the spectrum of synchrotron and inverse Compton radiating particles, and offers a viable means of accelerating ultra-high-energy cosmic rays to $10^{20}$ eV.

We examine the possible role of turbulence in feeding the emission of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Turbulence may develop in a GRB jet as the result of hydrodynamic or current-driven instabilities. The jet carries dense radiation and the turbulence cascade can be damped by Compton drag, passing kinetic fluid energy to photons through scattering. We identify two regimes of turbulence dissipation: (1) "Viscous" - the turbulence cascade is Compton damped on a scale $\ell_{\rm damp}$ greater than the photon mean free path $\ell_\star$. Then turbulence energy is passed to photons via bulk Comptonization by smooth shear flows on scale $\ell_\star<\ell_{\rm damp}$. (2) "Collisionless" - the cascade avoids Compton damping and extends to microscopic plasma scales much smaller than $\ell_\star$. The collisionless dissipation energizes plasma particles, which radiate the received energy; how the dissipated power is partitioned between particles needs further investigation with kinetic simulations. We show that the dissipation regime switches from viscous to collisionless during the jet expansion, at a critical value of the jet optical depth which depends on the amplitude of turbulence. Turbulent GRB jets are expected to emit nonthermal photospheric radiation. Our analysis also suggests revisions of turbulent Comptonization in black hole accretion disks discussed in previous works.

We present synthetic radio images of the GRB170817A afterglow, computed from moving-mesh hydrodynamic simulations of binary neutron star merger outflows. Having expanded for nearly a year, the merger remnant is expected to subtend roughly 5 milli-arcseconds (mas) on the sky, potentially resolvable by very long baseline radio imaging techniques. Any observations revealing the radio centroid to be offset from the line-of-site to the merger would be the smoking gun of a jetted outflow. However, our results indicate that a measurement of the centroid position alone cannot independently determine whether that jet escaped successfully from the merger debris cloud, or was "choked," yielding a quasi-spherical explosion. We find that in both scenarios, the centroid exhibits superluminal proper motion away from the merger site at roughly 4 - 10 mas per day for at least the first 300 days. We argue that a successful strategy for differentiating among the explosion models will need to include multiple observations over the coming months - years. In particular, we find the time at which the centroid attains its maximum offset, and begins heading back toward the merger site, is considerably later if the jet was choked. Detecting a reversal of the centroid trajectory earlier than 600 days would uniquely identify a successful jet. Our results indicate the source might be resolved using VLBI radio observing techniques with roughly 1 mas resolution starting at roughly 400 days post-merger, and that the the angular extent of a successful jet is significantly smaller than that of a choked jet (4.5 versus 7 mas respectively)., Comment: Accepted to ApJL

We present numerical simulations of energetic flows propagating through the debris cloud of a binary neutron star (BNS) merger. Starting from the scale of the central engine, we use a moving-mesh hydrodynamics code to simulate the complete dynamical evolution of the produced relativistic jets. We compute synchrotron emission directly from the simulations and present multi-band light curves of the early (sub-day) through late (weeks to years) afterglow stages. Our work systematically compares two distinct models for the central engine, referred to as the narrow and wide engine scenario, which is associated with a successful structured jet and a quasi-isotropic explosion respectively. Both engine models naturally evolve angular and radial structure through hydrodynamical interaction with the merger debris cloud. They both also result in a relativistic blast wave capable of producing the observed multi-band afterglow data. However, we find that the narrow and wide engine scenario might be differentiated by a new emission component that we refer to as a merger flash. This component is a consequence of applying the synchrotron radiation model to the shocked optically thin merger cloud. Such modeling is appropriate if injection of non-thermal electrons is sustained in the breakout relativistic shell, for example by internal shocks or magnetic reconnection. The rapidly declining signature may be detectable for future BNS mergers during the first minutes to day following the GW chirp. Furthermore, its non-detection for the GRB170817A event may disfavor the wide, quasi-isotropic explosion model.

We present a model for magnetic energy dissipation in a pulsar wind nebula. Better understanding of this process is required to assess the likelihood that certain astrophysical transients may be powered by the spin-down of a "millisecond magnetar." Examples include superluminous supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, and anticipated electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave detections of binary neutron star coalescence. Our model leverages recent progress in the theory of turbulent magnetic relaxation to specify a dissipative closure of the stationary magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) wind equations, yielding predictions of the magnetic energy dissipation rate throughout the nebula. Synchrotron losses are treated self-consistently. To demonstrate the model's efficacy, we show that it can reproduce many features of the Crab Nebula, including its expansion speed, radiative efficiency, peak photon energy, and mean magnetic field strength. Unlike ideal MHD models of the Crab (which lead to the so-called sigma problem) our model accounts for the transition from ultra to weakly magnetized plasma flow, and for the associated heating of relativistic electrons. We discuss how the predicted heating rates may be utilized to improve upon models of particle transport and acceleration in pulsar wind nebulae. We also discuss implications for the Crab Nebula's gamma-ray flares, and point out potential modifications to models of astrophysical transients invoking the spin-down of a millisecond magnetar., Comment: Submitted to ApJ

We study the magnetic field evolution of an isolated spiral galaxy, using isolated Milky Way-mass galaxy formation simulations and a novel prescription for magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) supernova feedback. Our main result is that a galactic dynamo can be seeded and driven by supernova explosions, resulting in magnetic fields whose strength and morphology is consistent with observations. In our model, supernovae supply thermal energy, and a low level magnetic field along with their ejecta. The thermal expansion drives turbulence, which serves a dual role by efficiently mixing the magnetic field into the interstellar medium, and amplifying it by means of turbulent dynamo. The computational prescription for MHD supernova feedback has been implemented within the publicly available ENZO code, and is fully described in this paper. This improves upon ENZO's existing modules for hydrodynamic feedback from stars and active galaxies. We find that the field attains $\mu G$-levels over Gyr-time scales throughout the disk. The field also develops large-scale structure, which appears to be correlated with the disk's spiral arm density structure. We find that seeding of the galactic dynamo by supernova ejecta predicts a persistent correlation between gas metallicity and magnetic field strength. We also generate all-sky maps of the Faraday rotation measure from the simulation-predicted magnetic field, and present a direct comparison with observations., Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, Submitted to AAS Journals

Many powerful and variable gamma-ray sources, including pulsar wind nebulae, active galactic nuclei and gamma-ray bursts, seem capable of accelerating particles to gamma-ray emitting energies efficiently over very short time scales. These are likely due to rapid dissipation of electromagnetic energy in a highly magnetized, relativistic plasma. In order to understand the generic features of such processes, we have investigated simple models based on relaxation of unstable force-free magnetostatic equilibria. In this work, we make the connection between the corresponding plasma dynamics and the expected radiation signal, using 2D particle-in-cell simulations that self-consistently include synchrotron radiation reaction. We focus on the lowest order unstable force-free equilibrium in a 2D periodic box. We find that rapid variability, with modest apparent radiation efficiency as perceived by a fixed observer, can be produced during the evolution of the instability. The "flares" are accompanied by an increased polarization degree in the high energy band, with rapid variation in the polarization angle. Furthermore, the separation between the acceleration sites and the synchrotron radiation sites for the highest energy particles facilitates acceleration beyond the synchrotron radiation reaction limit. We also discuss the dynamical consequences of radiation reaction, and some astrophysical applications of this model. Our current simulations with numerically tractable parameters are not yet able to reproduce the most dramatic gamma-ray flares, e.g., from Crab Nebula. Higher magnetization studies are promising and will be carried out in the future., Comment: 24 pages, 24 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ. Movies can be found at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlAEadydT0ugamx-sabfwVwe8O581PzHE

We present the results of particle-in-cell numerical pair plasma simulations of relativistic 2D magnetostatic equilibria known as the 'ABC' fields. In particular, we focus on the lowest-order unstable configuration consisting of two minima and two maxima of the magnetic vector potential. Breaking of the initial symmetry leads to exponential growth of the electric energy and to the formation of two current layers, which is consistent with the picture of 'X-point collapse' first described by Syrovatskii. Magnetic reconnection within the layers heats a fraction of particles to very high energies. After the saturation of the linear instability, the current layers are disrupted and the system evolves chaotically, diffusing the particle energies in a stochastic second-order Fermi process leading to the formation of power-law energy distributions. The power-law slopes harden with the increasing mean magnetization, but they are significantly softer than those produced in simulations initiated from Harris-type layers. The maximum particle energy is proportional to the mean magnetization, which is attributed partly to the increase of the effective electric field and partly to the increase of the acceleration time scale. We describe in detail the evolving structure of the dynamical current layers, and report on the conservation of magnetic helicity. These results can be applied to highly magnetized astrophysical environments, where ideal plasma instabilities trigger rapid magnetic dissipation with efficient particle acceleration and flares of high-energy radiation., Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, submitted to ApJ

We interpret $\gamma$-ray flares from the Crab Nebula as the signature of turbulence in the pulsar's electromagnetic outflow. Turbulence is triggered upstream by dynamical instability of the wind's oscillating magnetic field, and accelerates non-thermal particles. On impacting the wind termination shock, those particles emit a distinct synchrotron component $F_{\nu,\rm flare}$, which is constantly modulated by intermittency of the upstream plasma flow. Flares are observed when the high-energy cutoff of $F_{\nu,\rm flare}$ emerges above the fast-declining nebular emission around 0.1 - 1 GeV. Simulations carried out in the force-free electrodynamics approximation predict the striped wind to become fully turbulent well ahead of the wind termination shock, provided its terminal Lorentz factor is $\lesssim 10^4$., Comment: Submitted to ApJ

Freely decaying relativistic force-free turbulence is studied for the first time. We initiate the magnetic field at a short wavelength and simulate its relaxation toward equilibrium on two and three dimensional periodic domains, in both helical and non-helical settings. Force-free turbulent relaxation is found to exhibit an inverse cascade in all settings, and in 3D to have a magnetic energy spectrum consistent with the Kolmogorov $5/3$ power law. 3D relaxations also obey the Taylor hypothesis; they settle promptly into the lowest energy configuration allowed by conservation of the total magnetic helicity. But in 2D, the relaxed state is a force-free equilibrium whose energy greatly exceeds the Taylor minimum, and which contains persistent force-free current layers and isolated flux tubes. We explain this behavior in terms of additional topological invariants that exist only in two dimensions, namely the helicity enclosed within each level surface of the magnetic potential function. The speed and completeness of turbulent magnetic free energy discharge could help account for rapidly variable gamma-ray emission from the Crab Nebula, gamma-ray bursts, blazars, and radio galaxies., Comment: Accepted to the ApJ

We extend the simplex-in-cell (SIC) technique recently introduced in the context of collisionless dark matter fluids (Abel et al. 2012; Hahn et al. 2012) to the case of collisionless plasmas. The six-dimensional phase space distribution function $f(\mathbf x,\mathbf v)$ is represented by an ensemble of three-dimensional manifolds, which we refer to as sheets. The electric potential field is obtained by solving the Poisson equation on a uniform mesh, where the charge density is evaluated by a spatial projection of the phase space sheets. The SIC representation of phase space density facilitates robust, high accuracy numerical evolution of the Vlasov-Poisson system using significantly fewer tracer particles than comparable particle-in-cell (PIC) approaches by reducing the numerical shot-noise associated with the latter. We introduce the SIC formulation and describe its implementation in a new code, which we validate using standard test problems including plasma oscillations, Landau damping, and two stream instabilities in one dimension. Merits of the new scheme are shown to include higher accuracy and faster convergence rates in the number of particles. We finally motivate and outline the efficient application of SIC to higher dimensional problems., Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures

Enormous progress has been made on observing stellar magnetism in stars from the main sequence through to compact objects. Recent data have thrown into sharper relief the vexed question of the origin of stellar magnetic fields, which remains one of the main unanswered questions in astrophysics. In this chapter we review recent work in this area of research. In particular, we look at the fossil field hypothesis which links magnetism in compact stars to magnetism in main sequence and pre-main sequence stars and we consider why its feasibility has now been questioned particularly in the context of highly magnetic white dwarfs. We also review the fossil versus dynamo debate in the context of neutron stars and the roles played by key physical processes such as buoyancy, helicity, and superfluid turbulence,in the generation and stability of neutron star fields. Independent information on the internal magnetic field of neutron stars will come from future gravitational wave detections. Thus we maybe at the dawn of a new era of exciting discoveries in compact star magnetism driven by the opening of a new, non-electromagnetic observational window. We also review recent advances in the theory and computation of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence as it applies to stellar magnetism and dynamo theory. These advances offer insight into the action of stellar dynamos as well as processes whichcontrol the diffusive magnetic flux transport in stars., Comment: 41 pages, 7 figures. Invited review chapter on on magnetic field generation in stars to appear in Space Science Reviews, Springer

In order to understand the conditions which lead a highly magnetized, relativistic plasma to become unstable, and in such cases how the plasma evolves, we study a prototypical class of magnetostatic equilibria where the magnetic field satisfies $\nabla \times\mathbf B = \alpha \mathbf B$, where $\alpha$ is spatially uniform, on a periodic domain. Using numerical solutions we show that generic examples of such equilibria are unstable to ideal modes (including incompressible ones) which are marked by exponential growth in the linear phase. We characterize the unstable mode, showing how it can be understood in terms of merging magnetic and current structures, and explicitly demonstrate its instability using the energy principle. Following the nonlinear evolution of these solutions, we find that they rapidly develop regions with relativistic velocities and electric fields of comparable magnitude to the magnetic field, liberating magnetic energy on dynamical timescales and eventually settling into a configuration with the largest allowable wavelength. These properties make such solutions a promising setting for exploring the mechanisms behind extreme cosmic sources of gamma rays., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures + 6 pages supplemental material; revised to match version accepted by PRL; for associated movies see http://youtu.be/EPY_yx7H3_Q and http://youtu.be/Umww9oh08C8

The merger of binary neutron stars (BNSs) can lead to large amplifications of the magnetic field due to the development of turbulence and instabilities in the fluid, such as the Kelvin-Helmholtz shear instability, which drive small-scale dynamo activity. In order to properly resolve such instabilities and obtain the correct magnetic field amplification, one would need to employ resolutions that are currently unfeasible in global general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations of BNS mergers. Here, we present a subgrid model that allows global simulations to take into account the small-scale amplification of the magnetic field which is caused by the development of turbulence during BNS mergers. Assuming dynamo saturation, we show that magnetar-level fields ($\sim 10^{16}\,{\rm G}$) can be easily reached, and should therefore be expected from the merger of magnetized BNSs. The total magnetic energy can reach values up to $\sim 10^{51}\,{\rm erg}$ and the post-merger remnant can therefore emit strong electromagnetic signals and possibly produce short gamma-ray bursts., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, small changes in the text to match version published on ApJ

The free decay of non-helical relativistic magnetohydrodynamic turbulence is studied numerically, and found to exhibit cascading of magnetic energy toward large scales. Evolution of the magnetic energy spectrum $P_M(k,t)$ is self-similar in time and well modeled by a broken power law with sub-inertial and inertial range indices very close to $7/2$ and $-2$ respectively. The magnetic coherence scale is found to grow in time as $t^{2/5}$, much too slow to account for optical polarization of gamma-ray burst afterglow emission if magnetic energy is to be supplied only at microphysical length scales. No bursty or explosive energy loss is observed in relativistic MHD turbulence having modest magnetization, which constrains magnetic reconnection models for rapid time variability of GRB prompt emission, blazars and the Crab nebula., Comment: Accepted to ApJ Letters

The simultaneous detection of electromagnetic and gravitational wave emission from merging neutron star binaries would aid greatly in their discovery and interpretation. By studying turbulent amplification of magnetic fields in local high-resolution simulations of neutron star merger conditions, we demonstrate that magnetar-level (~10^16) G fields are present throughout the merger duration. We find that the small-scale turbulent dynamo converts 60% of the randomized kinetic energy into magnetic fields on a merger time scale. Since turbulent magnetic energy dissipates through reconnection events which accelerate relativistic electrons, turbulence may facilitate the conversion of orbital kinetic energy into radiation. If 10^-4 of the ~ 10^53 erg of orbital kinetic available gets processed through reconnection, and creates radiation in the 15-150 keV band, then the fluence at 200 Mpc would be 10^-7 erg/cm^2, potentially rendering most merging neutron stars in the advanced LIGO and Virgo detection volumes detectable by Swift BAT.

High-resolution numerical simulations are utilized to examine isotropic turbulence in a compressible fluid when long wavelength velocity fluctuations approach light speed. Spectral analysis reveals an inertial sub-range of relativistic motions with a broadly 5/3 index. The use of generalized Lorentz-covariant structure functions based on the four-velocity is proposed. These structure functions extend the She-Leveque model for intermittency into the relativistic regime.

Models for GRB outflows invoke turbulence in relativistically hot magnetized fluids. In order to investigate these conditions we have performed high-resolution three-dimensional numerical simulations of relativistic magneto-hydrodynamical (RMHD) turbulence. We find that magnetic energy is amplified to several percent of the total energy density by turbulent twisting and folding of magnetic field lines. Values of epsilon_B near 1% are thus naturally expected. We study the dependence of saturated magnetic field energy fraction as a function of Mach number and relativistic temperature. We then present power spectra of the turbulent kinetic and magnetic energies. We also present solenoidal (curl-like) and dilatational (divergence-like) power spectra of kinetic energy. We propose that relativistic effects introduce novel couplings between these spectral components. The case we explore in most detail is for equal amounts of thermal and rest mass energy, corresponding to conditions after collisions of shells with relative Lorentz factors of several. These conditions are relevant in models for internal shocks, for the late afterglow phase, for cocoon material along the edge of a relativistic jet as it propagates through a star, as well neutron stars merging with each other and with black hole companions. We find that relativistic turbulence decays extremely quickly, on a sound crossing time of an eddy. Models invoking sustained relativistic turbulence to explain variability in GRB prompt emission are thus strongly disfavored unless a persistant driving of the turbulence is maintained for the duration of the prompt emission., Comment: Proceedings from Gamma Ray Bursts 2010 Conference: Nov 1-4, 2010, Annapolis, MD

A wide variety of astrophysical phenomena involve the flow of turbulent magnetized gas with relativistic velocity or energy density. Examples include gamma-ray bursts, active galactic nuclei, pulsars, magnetars, micro-quasars, merging neutron stars, X-ray binaries, some supernovae, and the early universe. In order to elucidate the basic properties of the relativistic magnetohydrodynamical (RMHD) turbulence present in these systems, we present results from numerical simulations of fully developed driven turbulence in a relativistically warm, weakly magnetized and mildly compressible ideal fluid. We have evolved the RMHD equations for many dynamical times on a uniform grid with 1024^3 zones using a high order Godunov code. We observe the growth of magnetic energy from a seed field through saturation at about 1% of the total fluid energy. We compute the power spectrum of velocity and density-weighted velocity and conclude that the inertial scaling is consistent with a slope of -5/3. We compute the longitudinal and transverse velocity structure functions of order p up to 11, and discuss their possible deviation from the expected scaling for non-relativistic media. We also compute the scale-dependent distortion of coherent velocity structures with respect to the local magnetic field, finding a weaker scale dependence than is expected for incompressible non-relativistic flows with a strong mean field., Comment: Accepted to ApJ