Stability of Relativistic Jets from Rotating, Accreting Black Holes via Fully Three-Dimensional Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations TeX Export

@article{citeulike:3754430, abstract = {Rotating magnetized compact objects and their accretion discs can generate strong toroidal magnetic fields driving highly magnetized plasmas into relativistic jets. Of significant concern, however, has been that a strong toroidal field should be highly unstable to the non-axisymmetric helical kink (screw) \$m=1\$ mode leading to rapid disruption. We describe large-scale fully three-dimensional global general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of rapidly rotating, accreting black holes producing relativistic jets. Despite strong non-axisymmetric turbulence in the disc, the jet reaches Lorentz factors of \$\Gamma\lesssim 10\$ at distances of \$10^3\$ gravitational radii without significant disruption or dissipation with only mild substructure dominated by the \$m=1\$ mode. This implies astrophysical jets are roughly stable structures and may reach up to an external shock with strong magnetic fields. We study the accretion of small-scale and large-scale dipolar and quadrupolar fields, showing that only a dipolar field near the black hole allows a steady relativistic jet against disruption due to disc turbulence. We discuss the astrophysical implications of the accreted magnetic geometry playing such a significant role in relativistic jet formation, structure, and stability.}, archivePrefix = {arXiv}, author = {Mckinney, Jonathan C. and Blandford, Roger D.}, citeulike-article-id = {3754430}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://arxiv.org/abs/0812.1060}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://arxiv.org/pdf/0812.1060}, day = {5}, eprint = {0812.1060}, keywords = {acceleration, jet, paris}, month = {Dec}, posted-at = {2008-12-08 09:10:15}, priority = {2}, title = {Stability of Relativistic Jets from Rotating, Accreting Black Holes via Fully Three-Dimensional Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations}, url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/0812.1060}, year = {2008} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:3754430 L3 - citeulike-article-id:3754430 N2 - Rotating magnetized compact objects and their accretion discs can generate strong toroidal magnetic fields driving highly magnetized plasmas into relativistic jets. Of significant concern, however, has been that a strong toroidal field should be highly unstable to the non-axisymmetric helical kink (screw) $m=1$ mode leading to rapid disruption. We describe large-scale fully three-dimensional global general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of rapidly rotating, accreting black holes producing relativistic jets. Despite strong non-axisymmetric turbulence in the disc, the jet reaches Lorentz factors of $\Gamma\lesssim 10$ at distances of $10^3$ gravitational radii without significant disruption or dissipation with only mild substructure dominated by the $m=1$ mode. This implies astrophysical jets are roughly stable structures and may reach up to an external shock with strong magnetic fields. We study the accretion of small-scale and large-scale dipolar and quadrupolar fields, showing that only a dipolar field near the black hole allows a steady relativistic jet against disruption due to disc turbulence. We discuss the astrophysical implications of the accreted magnetic geometry playing such a significant role in relativistic jet formation, structure, and stability. TI - Stability of Relativistic Jets from Rotating, Accreting Black Holes via Fully Three-Dimensional Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations KW - acceleration KW - jet KW - paris AU - Mckinney, Jonathan AU - Blandford, Roger PY - 2008/Dec/05/ UR - http://arxiv.org/abs/0812.1060 ER -