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

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 in the jet should be highly unstable to the non-axisymmetric helical kink (screw) $m=1$ mode leading to rapid disruption. In addition, a recent concern has been that the jet formation process itself may be unstable due to the accretion of non-dipolar magnetic fields. We describe large-scale fully three-dimensional global general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of rapidly rotating, accreting black holes producing jets. We study both the stability of the jet as it propagates and the stability of the jet formation process during accretion of dipolar and quadrupolar fields. For our dipolar model, despite strong non-axisymmetric disc turbulence, the jet reaches Lorentz factors of $\Gamma \sim 10$ with opening half-angle ${\theta }_j\sim 5^{\circ }$ at $10^3$ gravitational radii without significant disruption or dissipation with only mild substructure dominated by the $m=1$ mode. On the contrary, our quadrupolar model does not produce a steady relativistic ($\Gamma \gtrsim 3$) jet due to mass-loading of the polar regions caused by unstable polar fields. Thus, if produced, relativistic jets are roughly stable structures and may reach up to an external shock with strong magnetic fields. We discuss the astrophysical implications of the accreted magnetic geometry playing such a significant role in relativistic jet formation, and we outline avenues for future work.

5 pages, 2 figures, accepted to MNRAS letters, movies posted at http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~jmckinney/movies/movies.html

References in corpus (20)

• Global General Relativistic MHD Simulation of a Tilted Black-Hole Accretion Disk
• The Influence of Magnetic Field Geometry on the Evolution of Black Hole Accretion Flows: Similar Disks, Drastically Different Jets
• A Long, Hard Look at the Low-Hard State in Accreting Black Holes
• The Inner Jet of the Radio Galaxy M87
• Equation of State in Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamics: variable versus constant adiabatic index
• Simulations of star formation in a gaseous disc around sgr A* - a failed AGN
• The role of kink instability in Poynting-flux dominated jets
• Three-Dimensional Simulations of Magnetized Thin Accretion Disks around Black Holes: Stress in the Plunging Region
• WHAM: A WENO-based general relativistic numerical scheme I: Hydrodynamics
• Disk-Jet Coupling in Black Hole Accretion Systems I: General Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamical Models
• "Meissner effect" and Blandford-Znajek mechanism in conductive black hole magnetospheres
• 3D Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Magnetized Spine-Sheath Relativistic Jets
• General Relativistic Force-Free Electrodynamics: A New Code and Applications to Black Hole Magnetospheres
• Relativistic Force-Free Electrodynamic Simulations of Neutron Star Magnetospheres
• Disk-Jet Coupling in Black Hole Accretion Systems II: Force-Free Electrodynamical Models
• Kink instabilities in jets from rotating magnetic fields
• Self-Similar Force-Free Wind From an Accretion Disk
• Episodic Magnetic Bubbles and Jets: Astrophysical Implications from Laboratory Experiments
• The inner jet of radio galaxy NGC 315 as observed with Chandra and the VLA
• A relativistic model of the radio jets in 3C 296

Cited by in corpus (13)

• Fast TeV variability in blazars: jets in a jet
• Jet Launching Structure Resolved Near the Supermassive Black Hole in M87
• Alignment of Magnetized Accretion Disks and Relativistic Jets with Spinning Black Holes
• The Submillimeter Bump in Sgr A* from Relativistic MHD Simulations
• Quasar Accretion Disks Are Strongly Inhomogeneous
• A Magnetized Jet from a Massive Protostar
• Variable TeV emission as a manifestation of jet formation in M87?
• 3D Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Current-Driven Instability. I. Instability of a static column
• Gamma Ray Bursts in the Swift-Fermi Era
• Development of General Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Code and its Application to Central Engine of Long Gamma-Ray Bursts
• Population synthesis of gamma-ray bursts with precursor activity and the spinar paradigm
• Spinning compact binary inspiral II: Conservative angular dynamics
• Observational evidences for spinning black holes: A proof of general relativity for spacetime around rotating black holes