Particle-in-cell Simulations of Global Relativistic Jets with Helical Magnetic Fields

Abstract

We study the interaction of relativistic jets with their environment, using 3-dimensional relativistic particle-in-cell simulations for two cases of jet composition: (i) electron-proton ($e^{-}-p^{+}$) and (ii) electron-positron ($e^{\pm }$) plasmas containing helical magnetic fields. We have performed simulations of "global" jets containing helical magnetic fields in order to examine how helical magnetic fields affect kinetic instabilities such as the Weibel instability, the kinetic Kelvin-Helmholtz instability and the Mushroom instability. We have found that these kinetic instabilities are suppressed and new types of instabilities can grow. For the $e^{-}-p^{+}$ jet, a recollimation-like instability occurs and jet electrons are strongly perturbed, whereas for the $e^{\pm }$ jet, a recollimation-like instability occurs at early times followed by kinetic instability and the general structure is similar to a simulation without a helical magnetic field. We plan to perform further simulations using much larger systems to confirm these new findings.

arXiv comment4 pages, 1 figure, New Frontiers in Black Hole Astrophysics, Proceedings of the IAU Symposium No. 324, A. Gomboc, ed

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Cited by in corpus (2)

• PIC methods in astrophysics: Simulations of relativistic jets and kinetic physics in astrophysical systems
• The University of Michigan Centimeter-Band All Stokes Blazar Monitoring Program: Single-Dish Polarimetry as a Probe of Parsec-Scale Magnetic Fields