Quick search Find article
Quick search
Find article

A Magnetohydrodynamic Boost for Relativistic Jets

FREE ISSUE

Yosuke Mizuno1,2, Philip Hardee3, Dieter H. Hartmann4, Ken-Ichi Nishikawa1,5 and Bing Zhang6

Show affiliations


We performed relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the hydrodynamic boosting mechanism for relativistic jets explored by Aloy and Rezzolla using the RAISHIN code. Simulation results show that the presence of a magnetic field changes the properties of the shock interface between the tenuous, overpressured jet (Vzj) flowing tangentially to a dense external medium. Magnetic fields can lead to more efficient acceleration of the jet, in comparison to the pure hydrodynamic case. A "poloidal" magnetic field (Bz), tangent to the interface and parallel to the jet flow, produces both a stronger outward moving shock and a stronger inward moving rarefaction wave. This leads to a large velocity component normal to the interface in addition to acceleration tangent to the interface, and the jet is thus accelerated to larger Lorentz factors than those obtained in the pure hydrodynamic case. Likewise, a strong "toroidal" magnetic field (By), tangent to the interface but perpendicular to the jet flow, also leads to stronger acceleration tangent to the shock interface relative to the pure hydrodynamic case. Overall, the acceleration efficiency in the poloidal case is less than that of the toroidal case, but both geometries still result in higher Lorentz factors than the pure hydrodynamic case. Thus, the presence and relative orientation of a magnetic field in relativistic jets can significantly modify the hydrodynamic boost mechanism studied by Aloy and Rezzolla.

Subject headings

black hole physics; galaxies: jets; gamma rays: bursts; methods: numerical; MHD; relativity


Dates

Issue 1 (2008 January 1)

Received 2007 February 19, accepted for publication 2007 September 12



View by subject




Export








Please login to access our web services, or create an account if you don't yet have one.

You must have cookies enabled in your web browser to be able to login.

Username
Password

Forgotten your password? Get a new one here.