Multiwavelength Observations of Relativistic Jets from General Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations

Abstract

This work summarizes a program intended to unify three burgeoning branches of the high-energy astrophysics of relativistic jets: general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations of ever-increasing dynamical range, the microphysical theory of particle acceleration under relativistic conditions, and multiwavelength observations resolving ever-decreasing spatiotemporal scales. The process, which involves converting simulation output into time series of images and polarization maps that can be directly compared to observations, is performed by (1) self-consistently prescribing models for emission, absorption, and particle acceleration and (2) performing time-dependent polarized radiative transfer. M87 serves as an exemplary prototype for this investigation due to its prominent and well-studied jet and the imminent prospect of learning much more from Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) observations this year. Synthetic observations can be directly compared with real observations for observational signatures such as jet instabilities, collimation, relativistic beaming, and polarization. The simplest models described adopt the standard equipartition hypothesis; other models calculate emission by relating it to current density or shear. These models are intended for application to the radio jet instead of the higher frequency emission, the disk and the wind, which will be subjects of future investigations.

10 pages, 7 figures

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• On the Comparison of AGN with GRMHD Simulations: I. Sgr A*
• Positron Effects on Polarized Images and Spectra from Jet and Accretion Flow Models of M87* and Sgr A*
• Determining the Composition of Relativistic Jets from Polarization Maps
• Polarization Imaging of M87 Jets by General Relativistic Radiative Transfer Calculation based on GRMHD Simulations
• CLEAN imaging systematics of M87 radio jet
• A QPO in Mkn 421 from Archival RXTE Data
• Jet MHD analytical model - framework for radiative transfer