Dissipation Profiles from Global Accretion Disk Simulations

We conducted three-dimensional global simulations of accretion onto black holes with parameters suitable for black hole X-ray binaries. We compared calculations based on multiple initial magnetic field geometries. We extracted both time-dependent and time-averaged local dissipation rates, and investigated the underlying energy transport mechanisms. We found that over a range of accretion rates from slightly below to several times Eddington, significant dissipation occurred near the photosphere above and below the mid-plane, and tracked the radial dependence of this heating. We discussed the implications of our results for continuum spectral fitting.