In the paradigm of magnetic acceleration of relativistic jets, one of the key points is identifying a viable mechanism to convert the Poynting flux into the kinetic energy of the plasma beyond equipartition. A promising candidate is the kink instability, which deforms the body of the jet through helical perturbations. Since the detailed structure of real jets is unknown, we explore a large family of cylindrical, force-free equilibria to get robust conclusions. We find that the growth rate of the instability depends primarily on two parameters: (i) the gradient of the poloidal magnetic field; (ii) the Lorentz factor of the perturbation, which is closely related to the velocity of the plasma. We provide a simple fitting formula for the growth rate of the instability. As a tentative application, we use our results to interpret the dynamics of the jet in the nearby active galaxy M87. We show that the kink instability becomes non-linear at a distance from the central black hole comparable to where the jet stops accelerating. Hence (at least for this object), the kink instability of the jet is a good candidate to drive the transition from a Poynting-dominated to a kinetic-energy-dominated flow.
We study the evolution of kink instability in a force-free, non-rotating plasma column of high magnetization. The main dissipation mechanism is identified as reconnection of magnetic field-lines with various intersection angles, driven by the compression of the growing kink lobes. We measure dissipation rates ${\rm d} U_{Bϕ}/{{\rm d}t} \approx -0.1 U_{Bϕ}/τ$, where $τ$ is the linear growth time of the kink instability. This value is consistent with the expansion velocity of the kink mode, which drives the reconnection. The relaxed state is close to a force-free Taylor state. We constraint the …
Relativistic jets are highly collimated plasma outflows emerging from accreting black holes. They are launched with a significant amount of magnetic energy, which can be dissipated to accelerate nonthermal particles and give rise to electromagnetic radiation at larger scales. Kink instabilities can be an efficient mechanism to trigger dissipation of jet magnetic energy. While previous works have studied the conditions required for the growth of kink instabilities in relativistic jets, the radiation signatures of these instabilities have not been investigated in detail. In this paper, we aim to…
This paper presents a simple model of polarisation rotation in optically thin relativistic jets of blazars. The model is based on the development of helical (kink) mode of current-driven instability. A possible explanation is suggested for the observational connection between polarisation rotations and optical/gamma-ray flares in blazars, if the current-driven modes are triggered by secular increases of the total jet power. The importance of intrinsic depolarisation in limiting the amplitude of coherent polarisation rotations is demonstrated. The polarisation rotation amplitude is thus very se…
Relativistic jets in active galactic nuclei (AGN) convert as much as half of their energy into radiation. To explore the poorly understood processes that are responsible for this conversion, we carry out fully 3D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of relativistic magnetized jets. Unlike the standard approach of injecting the jets at large radii, our simulated jets self-consistently form at the source and propagate and accelerate outward for several orders of magnitude in distance before they interact with the ambient medium. We find that this interaction can trigger strong energy dissipatio…
Using the three-dimensional relativistic magnetohydrodynamic code RAISHIN, we investigated the influence of radial density profile on the spatial development of the current-driven kink instability along magnetized rotating, relativistic jets. For the purpose of our study, we used a non-periodic computational box, the jet flow is initially established across the computational grid, and a precessional perturbation at the inlet triggers the growth of the kink instability. We studied light as well as heavy jets with respect to the environment depending on the density profile. Different angular vel…
We investigate with relativistic MHD simulations the dissipation physics of BL Lac jets, by studying the synchrotron polarization signatures of particles accelerated by the kink instability in a magnetically-dominated plasma column. The nonlinear stage of the kink instability generates current sheets, where particles can be efficiently accelerated via magnetic reconnection. We identify current sheets as regions where s = J d/B is above some predefined threshold (where B is the field strength, J the current density and d the grid scale), and assume that the particle injection efficiency scales …
We analyze the evolution of current driven kink instabilities of a highly magnetized relativistic plasma column, focusing in particular on its dissipation properties. The instability evolution leads to the formation of thin current sheets where the magnetic energy is dissipated. We find that the total amount of dissipated magnetic energy is independent of the dissipation properties. Dissipation occurs in two stages: a peak when the instability saturates, which is characterized by the formation of a helicoidal current sheet at the boundary of the deformed plasma column, followed by a weaker alm…
We investigate the launching and stability of extragalactic jets through nonlinear magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation and linear eigenmode analysis. In the simulations of jet evolution, a small-scale equilibrium magnetic arcade is twisted by a differentially rotating accretion disk. These simulations produce a collimated outflow which is unstable to the current driven m=1 kink mode for low rotational velocities of the accretion disk relative to the Alfven speed of the coronal plasma. The growth rate of the kink mode in the jet is shown to be inversely related to the rotation rate of the disk…
Magnetized jets in GRBs and AGNs are thought to be efficient accelerators of particles, however, the process responsible for the acceleration is still a matter of active debate. In this work, we study the kink-instability in non-rotating force-free jets using first-principle particle-in-cell simulations. We obtain similar overall evolution of the instability as found in MHD simulations. The instability first generates large scale current sheets, which at later times break up into small-scale turbulence. Reconnection in these sheets proceeds in the strong guide field regime, which results in a …
Relativistic AGN jets exhibit multi-timescale variability and a broadband non-thermal spectrum extending from radio to gamma-rays. These highly magnetized jets are prone to undergo several Magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) instabilities during their propagation in space and could trigger jet radiation and particle acceleration. This work aims to study the implications of relativistic kink mode instability on the observed long-term variability in the context of the twisting in-homogeneous jet model. To achieve this, we investigate the physical configurations preferable for forming kink mode instabilit…
Relativistic magnetized jets from active galaxies are among the most powerful cosmic accelerators, but their particle acceleration mechanisms remain a mystery. We present a new acceleration mechanism associated with the development of the helical kink instability in relativistic jets, which leads to the efficient conversion of the jet's magnetic energy into nonthermal particles. Large-scale three-dimensional ab initio simulations reveal that the formation of highly tangled magnetic fields and a large-scale inductive electric field throughout the kink-unstable region promotes rapid energization…
Energy deposition by active galactic nuclei jets into the ambient medium can affect galaxy formation and evolution, the cooling of gas flows at the centres of galaxy clusters, and the growth of the supermassive black holes. However, the processes that couple jet power to the ambient medium and determine jet morphology are poorly understood. For instance, there is no agreement on the cause of the well-known Fanaroff-Riley (FR) morphological dichotomy of jets, with FRI jets being shorter and less stable than FRII jets. We carry out global 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations of relativistic jets p…
Kink instabilities are likely to occur in the current-carrying magnetized plasma jets. Recent observations of the blazar radiation and polarization signatures suggest that the blazar emission region may be considerably magnetized. While the kink instability has been studied with first-principle magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations, the corresponding time-dependent radiation and polarization signatures have not been investigated. In this paper, we perform comprehensive polarization-dependent radiation modeling of the kink instability in the blazar emission region based on relativistic MHD (RMH…
We have investigated the development of current-driven (CD) kink instability through three-dimensional relativistic MHD simulations. A static force-free equilibrium helical magnetic configuration is considered in order to study the influence of the initial configuration on the linear and nonlinear evolution of the instability. We found that the initial configuration is strongly distorted but not disrupted by the kink instability. The instability develops as predicted by linear theory. In the non-linear regime the kink amplitude continues to increase up to the terminal simulation time, albeit a…
Particle acceleration in magnetized relativistic jets still puzzles theorists, specially when one tries to explain the highly variable emission observed in blazar jets or gamma-ray bursts putting severe constraints on current models. In this work we investigate the acceleration of particles injected in a three-dimensional relativistic magnetohydrodynamical jet subject to current driven kink instability (CDKI), which drives turbulence and fast magnetic reconnection. Test protons injected in the nearly stationary snapshots of the jet, experience an exponential acceleration up to a maximum energy…
In this paper we consider stability of magnetized jets that carry no net electric current and do not have current sheets (Gourgouliatos et al. 2012). The non-relativistic MHD equations are linearized around the background velocity and the magnetic field structure of the jet. The resulting linear equations are solved numerically inside the jet. We find that introduction of current-sheet-free magnetic field significantly improves jet stability relative to unmagnetized jets or magnetized jets with current sheets at their surface. This particularly applies to the fundamental pinch and kink modes -…
In this paper, we report our recent findings on the relativistic Weibel instability and its nonlinear saturation by performing numerical simulations of collisionless plasmas. Analysis of the obtained numerical results revealed that the nonlinear phase of the Weibel instability can be described by characteristic phases based on the Weibel filaments' current density in terms of particle and Alfvén limit currents. We also analyzed the relativistic kink instability based on the energy principle in the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) regime, and found that the Weibel filaments do not suffer from the kink…
Relativistic jets naturally occur in astrophysical systems that involve accretion onto compact objects, such as core collapse of massive stars in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and accretion onto supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei (AGN). It is generally accepted that these jets are powered electromagnetically, by the magnetised rotation of a central compact object. However, how they produce the observed emission and survive the propagation for many orders of magnitude in distance without being disrupted by current-driven non-axisymmetric instabilities is the subject of active debate. …
We investigate the self-consistent particle acceleration physics associated with the development of the kink instability (KI) in nonrelativistic, electron-ion plasma jets. Using 3D fully kinetic particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations, we show that the KI efficiently converts the initial toroidal magnetic field energy into energetic ions. The accelerated ions form a nonthermal power-law tail in the energy spectrum, containing $\simeq10\%$ of the initial magnetic field energy, and with the maximum ion energy extending to the confinement energy of the jet. We find that the ions are efficiently accele…
We have investigated the relaxation of a hydrostatic hot plasma column containing toroidal magnetic field by the Current-Driven (CD) kink instability as a model of pulsar wind nebulae. In our simulations the CD kink instability is excited by a small initial velocity perturbation and develops turbulent structure inside the hot plasma column. We demonstrate that, as envisioned by Begelman, the hoop stress declines and the initial gas pressure excess near the axis decreases. The magnetization parameter σ, the ratio of the Poynting to the kinetic energy flux, declines from an initial value of 0.3 …
We have investigated the influence of velocity shear and a radial density profile on the spatial development of the current driven kink instability along helically magnetized relativistic jets via three-dimensional relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations. In this study, we use a non-periodic computational box, the jet flow is initially established across the computational grid, and a precessional perturbation at the inlet triggers growth of the kink instability. If the velocity shear radius is located inside the characteristic radius of the helical magnetic field, a static non-propagating…
In this paper, we describe the results of three-dimensional relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations aimed at probing the role of regular magnetic field on the development of the instability that accompanies recollimation of relativistic jets. In particular, we studied the recollimation driven by the reconfinement of jets from active galactic nuclei (AGN) by the thermal pressure of galactic coronas. We find that a relatively weak azimuthal magnetic field can completely suppress the recollimation instability in such jets, with the critical magnetisation parameter $σ_{cr} < 0.01$. We argue t…
Dissipation and particle acceleration in astrophysical jets with velocity and magnetic shear: Interaction of Kelvin-Helmholtz and Drift-Kink Instabilities
We have investigated the influence of a velocity shear surface on the linear and non-linear development of the CD kink instability of force-free helical magnetic equilibria in 3D. In this study we follow the temporal development within a periodic computational box and concentrate on flows that are sub-Alfvenic on the cylindrical jet's axis. Displacement of the initial force-free helical magnetic field leads to the growth of CD kink instability. We find that helically distorted density structure propagates along the jet with speed and flow structure dependent on the radius of the velocity shear…
I present a scenario by which an accretion flow with alternating angular momentum sense on to a newly born neutron star in core collapse supernovae (CCSNe) efficiently amplifies magnetic fields and by that launches jets. The accretion flow of a collapsing core on to the newly born neutron star suffers the spiral standing accretion shock instability (SASI). This instability leads to a stochastically variable angular momentum of the accreted gas, that in turn forms an accretion flow with alternating directions of the angular momentum, hence alternating shear, at any given time. I study the shear…
We have performed magneto-hydrodynamic simulations of relativistic jets from supermassive blackholes over a few tens of kpc for a range of jet parameters. One of the primary aims were to investigate the effect of different MHD instabilities on the jet dynamics and their dependence on the choice of jet parameters. We find that two dominant MHD instabilities affect the dynamics of the jet, small scale Kelvin- Helmholtz (KH) modes and large scale kink modes, whose evolution depend on internal jet parameters like the Lorentz factor, the ratio of the density and pressure to the external medium and …
We present large scale 3D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations to examine particle energization in magnetic reconnection of relativistic electron-positron (pair) plasmas. The initial configuration is set up as a relativistic Harris equilibrium without a guide field. These simulations are large enough to accommodate a sufficient number of tearing and kink modes. Contrary to the non-relativistic limit, the linear tearing instability is faster than the linear kink instability, at least in our specific parameters. We find that the magnetic energy dissipation is first facilitated by the tearing insta…
Jets powered by active galactic nuclei appear impressively stable compared with their terrestrial and laboratory counterparts-they can be traced from their origin to distances exceeding their injection radius by up to a billion times. However, some less energetic jets get disrupted and lose their coherence on the scale of their host galaxy. Quite remarkably, on the same scale, these jets are expected to become confined by the thermal pressure of the intra-galactic gas. Motivated by these observations, we have started a systematic study of active galactic nuclei jets undergoing reconfinement vi…
In our prior papers, we considered the non-relativistic linear stability analysis of magnetized jets that do not have current sheet at the boundary. In this paper, we extend our analysis to relativistic jets. In order to find the unstable modes of current sheet-free, magnetized relativistic jets, we linearize full relativistic magnetohydrodynamics equations and solve them numerically. We find the dispersion relation of the pinch and kink mode instabilities. By comparing the dispersion relations of mildly relativistic jet (Lorentz factor 2) with moderately relativistic jet (Lorentz factor 10), …
We study the kinetic plasma dynamics in collisionless relativistic jets with velocity shear, by carrying out particle-in-cell simulations in the transverse plane of a jet. It is discovered that intermittent magnetic reconnections (MRs) are driven by Mushroom instability (MI), which is an important kinetic-scale plasma instability in the plasma shear-flows with relativistic bulk speed. We refer to this sequence of kinetic plasma phenomena as "MI-driven MR". The MI-driven MRs intermittently occur with moving the location of the reconnection points from the vicinity of the initial velocity-shear …
In the study of relativistic jets one of the key open questions is their interaction with the environment on the microscopic level. Here, we study the initial evolution of both electron$-$proton ($e^{-}-p^{+}$) and electron$-$positron ($e^{\pm}$) relativistic jets containing helical magnetic fields, focusing on their interaction with an ambient plasma. 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 (kKHI) and th…
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 su…
Relativistic jets associated with active galactic nuclei and gamma-ray bursts propagate over huge distances without significant loss of momentum. At the same time they are bright emitters, which is indicative of strong energy dissipation. This points towards a mechanism of internal dissipation which does not result in a global disruption of the flow. One possibility is internal shocks and another one is turbulence driven by local instabilities. Such instabilities can be triggered when a freely expanding jet is reconfined by either the cocoon or external gas pressure. In this paper we study the…
Effects of Ambient Medium Profiles on the Evolution of Relativistic Magnetized Jets
Tsung-Dao Lee Institute, Shanghai Jiao-Tong University（同济大学李政道研究所）；School of Physics & Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao-Tong University（上海交通大学物理与天文学院）；Key Laboratory for Particle Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology (MOE), Shanghai Key Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology, Shanghai Jiao-Tong University（上海交通大学粒子物理、天体物理与宇宙学教育部重点实验室）
A cocoon is a by-product of a propagating jet that results from shock heating at the jet head. Herein, considering simultaneous cocoon formation, we study the stability of relativistic jets propagating through the uniform ambient medium. Using a simple analytic argument, we demonstrate that independent from the jet launching condition, the effective inertia of the jet is larger than that of the cocoon when the fully relativistic jet oscillates radially owing to the pressure mismatch between jet and cocoon. In such situations, it is expected that the onset condition for the oscillation-induced …
Non-thermal emission from Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) jets extends up-to large scales in-spite of them being prone to a slew of magneto-hydrodynamic instabilities. The main focus of this study is to understand the impact of MHD instabilities on the non-thermal emission from large-scale AGN jets. We perform high-resolution three-dimensional numerical magneto-hydrodynamic simulations of a plasma column to investigate the dynamical and emission properties of jet configurations at kilo-parsec scales with different magnetic field profiles, jet speeds, and density contrast. We also obtain synthetic…
We have investigated the influence of jet rotation and differential motion on the linear and nonlinear development of the current-driven (CD) kink instability of force-free helical magnetic equilibria via three-dimensional relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations. In this study, we follow the temporal development within a periodic computational box. Displacement of the initial helical magnetic field leads to the growth of the CD kink instability. We find that, in accord with linear stability theory, the development of the instability depends on the lateral distribution of the poloidal magn…
Magnetohydrodynamic instabilities can be responsible for the formation of structures with various scales in astrophysical jets. We consider the stability properties of jets containing both the azimuthal and axial field of subthermal strength. A magnetic field with complex topology in jets is suggested by theoretical models and is consistent with recent observations. Stability is discussed by means of a linear analysis of the ideal magnetohydrodynamic equations. We argue that in azimuthal and axial magnetic fields the jet is always unstable to non-axisymmetric perturbations. Stabilization does …
One of the key open questions in the study of relativistic jets is their interaction with the environment. Here, we study the initial evolution of both electron-proton and electron-positron relativistic jets, focusing on their lateral interaction with the ambient plasma. We trace the generation and evolution of the toroidal magnetic field generated by both kinetic Kelvin-Helmholtz (kKH) and Mushroom instabilities (MI). This magnetic field collimates the jet. We show that in electron-proton jet, electrons are perpendicularly accelerated with jet collimation. The magnetic polarity switches from …
We show that the standing accretion shock instability (SASI) that has been used to ease the shock revival in core collapse supernovae (CCSNe) neutrino-driven explosion models, might play a much more decisive role in supplying the stochastic angular momentum required to trigger an explosion with jittering jets. We find that if the kinetic energy associated with the transverse (non radial) motion of the SASI is larger than about ten percent of the energy associated with the energy of the accreted gas, then the stochastic angular momentum can reach about five percent of the Keplerian specific ang…
Recently it was shown that the centrifugal instability may be important in the dynamics of astrophysical jets undergoing reconfinement by external pressure. However, these studies were limited to the case of unmagnetised flows. Here we explore the role of the magnetic field within both the Newtonian and relativistic frameworks. Since the jet problem is rather complicated, we focus instead on the simpler problem of cylindrical rotation and axial magnetic field, which shares significant similarity with the jet problem, and consider only axisymmetric perturbations. The studied equilibrium configu…
We have investigated magnetic field generation in velocity shears via the kinetic Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (kKHI) using a relativistic plasma jet core and stationary plasma sheath. Our three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations consider plasma jet cores with Lorentz factors of 1.5, 5, and 15 for both electron-proton and electron-positron plasmas. For electron-proton plasmas we find generation of strong large-scale DC currents and magnetic fields which extend over the entire shear-surface and reach thicknesses of a few tens of electron skin depths. For electron-positron plasmas we find …
Afterglow jets are Rayleigh-Taylor unstable and therefore turbulent during the early part of their deceleration. There are also several processes which actively cool the jet. In this letter, we demonstrate that if cooling significantly increases the compressibility of the flow, the turbulence collides with the forward shock, destabilizing and corrugating it. In this case, the forward shock is turbulent enough to produce the magnetic fields responsible for synchrotron emission via small scale turbulent dynamo. We calculate light curves assuming the magnetic field is in energy equipartition with…
Near the central engine, many astrophysical jets are expected to rotate about their axis. Further out they are expected to go through the processes of reconfinement and recollimation. In both these cases, the flow streams along a concave surface and hence, it is subject to the centrifugal force. It is well known that such flows may experience the Centrifugal Instability (CFI), to which there are many laboratory examples. The recent computer simulations of relativistic jets from Active Galactic Nuclei undergoing the process of reconfinement show that in such jets CFI may dominate over the Kelvi…
Centres of galaxy clusters must be efficiently reheated to avoid a cooling catastrophe. One potential reheating mechanism is anisotropic thermal conduction, which could transport thermal energy from intermediate radii to the cluster center. However, if fields are not re-randomised, anisotropic thermal conduction drives the heat buoyancy instability (HBI) which reorients magnetic field lines and shuts off radial heat fluxes. We revisit the efficiency of thermal conduction under the influence of spin-driven AGN jets in idealised magneto-hydrodynamical simulations with anisotropic thermal conduct…
