Relativistic simulations of black hole-neutron star coalescence: the jet emerges

Vasileios Paschalidis; Milton Ruiz; Stuart L. Shapiro

doi:10.1088/2041-8205/806/1/L14

paper

Relativistic simulations of black hole-neutron star coalescence: the jet emerges

arXiv:1410.7392 · doi:10.1088/2041-8205/806/1/L14

Abstract

We perform magnetohydrodynamic simulations in full general relativity (GRMHD) of a binary black hole-neutron star on a quasicircular orbit that undergoes merger. The binary mass ratio is 3:1, the black hole initial spin parameter $a / m = 0.75$ ( $m$ is the black hole Christodoulou mass) aligned with the orbital angular momentum, and the neutron star is an irrotational $Γ = 2$ polytrope. About two orbits prior to merger (at time $t = t_{B}$ ), we seed the neutron star with a dynamically weak interior dipole magnetic field that extends into the stellar exterior. At $t = t_{B}$ the exterior has a low-density atmosphere with constant plasma parameter $β \equiv P_{gas} / P_{mag}$ . Varying $β$ at $t_{B}$ in the exterior from $0.1$ to $0.01$ , we find that at a time $\sim 4000 M \sim 100 (M_{NS} /1.4 M_{⊙})$ ms [M is the total (ADM) mass] following the onset of accretion of tidally disrupted debris, magnetic winding above the remnant black hole poles builds up the magnetic field sufficiently to launch a mildly relativistic, collimated outflow - an incipient jet. The duration of the accretion and the lifetime of the jet is $Δ t \sim 0.5 (M_{NS} /1.4 M_{⊙})$ s. Our simulations furnish the first explicit examples in GRMHD which show that a jet can emerge following a black hole - neutron star merger.

arXiv comment6 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, matches published version

Relativistic simulations of black hole-neutron star coalescence: the jet emerges

Abstract

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