Toroidal LNRF-velocity profiles in thick accretion discs orbiting rapidly rotating Kerr black holes

Abstract

Abstract. We show that in the equatorial plane of marginally stable thick discs (with uniformly distributed specific angular momentum ℓ(r, θ ) = const) the orbital velocity relative to the LNRF has a positive radial gradient in the vicinity of black holes with a > 0.99979. The change of sign of the velocity gradient occurs just above the center of the thick toroidal discs, in the region where stable circular geodesics of the Kerr spacetime are allowed. The global character of the phenomenon is given in terms of topology changes of the von Zeipel surfaces (equivalent to equivelocity surfaces in the tori with ℓ(r, θ ) = const). Toroidal von Zeipel surfaces exist around the circle corresponding to the minimum of the equatorial LNRF velocity profile, indicating a possibility of development of some vertical instabilities in those parts of marginally stable tori with positive gradient of the LNRF velocity. Eventual oscillatory frequencies connected with the phenomenon are given in a coordinateindependent form.