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Title: Quasi-Static Model Of Magnetically Collimated Jets And Radio Lobes. Ii. Jet Structure And Stability

Abstract

This is the second in a series of companion papers showing that when an efficient dynamo can be maintained by accretion disks around supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei, it can lead to the formation of a powerful, magnetically driven, and mediated helix that could explain both the observed radio jet/lobe structures and ultimately the enormous power inferred from the observed ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays. In the first paper, we showed self-consistently that minimizing viscous dissipation in the disk naturally leads to jets of maximum power with boundary conditions known to yield jets as a low-density, magnetically collimated tower, consistent with observational constraints of wire-like currents at distances far from the black hole. In this paper we show that these magnetic towers remain collimated as they grow in length at nonrelativistic velocities. Differences with relativistic jet models are explained by three-dimensional magnetic structures derived from a detailed examination of stability properties of the tower model, including a broad diffuse pinch with current profiles predicted by a detailed jet solution outside the collimated central column treated as an electric circuit. We justify our model in part by the derived jet dimensions in reasonable agreement with observations. Using these jet properties, wemore » also discuss the implications for relativistic particle acceleration in nonrelativistically moving jets. The appendices justify the low jet densities yielding our results and speculate how to reconcile our nonrelativistic treatment with general relativistic MHD simulations.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [1];  [3];  [4];  [4]
  1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  2. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  3. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  4. Univ. of California, Irvine, CA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1492587
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-15-22466
Journal ID: ISSN 1538-4357
Grant/Contract Number:  
89233218CNA000001
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
The Astrophysical Journal (Online)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 813; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; Astronomy and Astrophysics

Citation Formats

Colgate, Stirling A., Fowler, T. Kenneth, Li, Hui, Hooper, E. Bickford, McClenaghan, Joseph, and Lin, Zhihong. Quasi-Static Model Of Magnetically Collimated Jets And Radio Lobes. Ii. Jet Structure And Stability. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/813/2/136.
Colgate, Stirling A., Fowler, T. Kenneth, Li, Hui, Hooper, E. Bickford, McClenaghan, Joseph, & Lin, Zhihong. Quasi-Static Model Of Magnetically Collimated Jets And Radio Lobes. Ii. Jet Structure And Stability. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/813/2/136
Colgate, Stirling A., Fowler, T. Kenneth, Li, Hui, Hooper, E. Bickford, McClenaghan, Joseph, and Lin, Zhihong. 2015. "Quasi-Static Model Of Magnetically Collimated Jets And Radio Lobes. Ii. Jet Structure And Stability". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/813/2/136. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1492587.
@article{osti_1492587,
title = {Quasi-Static Model Of Magnetically Collimated Jets And Radio Lobes. Ii. Jet Structure And Stability},
author = {Colgate, Stirling A. and Fowler, T. Kenneth and Li, Hui and Hooper, E. Bickford and McClenaghan, Joseph and Lin, Zhihong},
abstractNote = {This is the second in a series of companion papers showing that when an efficient dynamo can be maintained by accretion disks around supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei, it can lead to the formation of a powerful, magnetically driven, and mediated helix that could explain both the observed radio jet/lobe structures and ultimately the enormous power inferred from the observed ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays. In the first paper, we showed self-consistently that minimizing viscous dissipation in the disk naturally leads to jets of maximum power with boundary conditions known to yield jets as a low-density, magnetically collimated tower, consistent with observational constraints of wire-like currents at distances far from the black hole. In this paper we show that these magnetic towers remain collimated as they grow in length at nonrelativistic velocities. Differences with relativistic jet models are explained by three-dimensional magnetic structures derived from a detailed examination of stability properties of the tower model, including a broad diffuse pinch with current profiles predicted by a detailed jet solution outside the collimated central column treated as an electric circuit. We justify our model in part by the derived jet dimensions in reasonable agreement with observations. Using these jet properties, we also discuss the implications for relativistic particle acceleration in nonrelativistically moving jets. The appendices justify the low jet densities yielding our results and speculate how to reconcile our nonrelativistic treatment with general relativistic MHD simulations.},
doi = {10.1088/0004-637X/813/2/136},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1492587}, journal = {The Astrophysical Journal (Online)},
issn = {1538-4357},
number = 2,
volume = 813,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Nov 09 00:00:00 EST 2015},
month = {Mon Nov 09 00:00:00 EST 2015}
}

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Cited by: 6 works
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Works referencing / citing this record: