We investigate the launching mechanism of relativistic jets from black hole sources, in particular the strong winds from the surrounding accretion disk. Numerical investigations of the disk wind launching - the simulation of the accretion-ejection transition - have so far almost only been done for non-relativistic systems. From these simulations we know that resistivity, or magnetic diffusivity, plays an important role for the launching process. Here, we extend this treatment to general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (GR-MHD) applying the resistive GR-MHD code rHARM. Our model setup considers a thin accretion disk threaded by a large-scale open magnetic field. We run a series of simulations with different Kerr parameter, field strength and diffusivity level. Indeed we find strong disk winds with, however, mildly relativistic speed, the latter most probably due to our limited computational domain. Further, we find that magnetic diffusivity lowers the efficiency of accretion and ejection, as it weakens the efficiency of the magnetic lever arm of the disk wind. As major driving force of the disk wind we disentangle the toroidal magnetic field pressure gradient, however,magneto-centrifugal driving may also contribute. Black hole rotation in our simulations suppresses the accretion rate due to an enhanced toroidal magnetic field pressure that seems to be induced by frame-dragging. Comparing the energy fluxes from the Blandford-Znajek-driven central spine and the surrounding disk wind, we find that the total electromagnetic energy flux is dominated by the total matter energy flux of the disk wind (by a factor 20). The kinetic energy flux of the matter outflow is comparatively small and comparable to the Blandford-Znajek electromagnetic energy flux.
Comparison of magnetic diffusion and reconnection in ideal and resistive relativistic magnetohydrodynamics, ideal magnetodynamics, and resistive force-free electrodynamics
We perform MHD simulations of a thin resistive and viscous accretion disk around a neutron star with the surface dipolar magnetic field of 10$^8$ Gauss. The system evolution is followed during the interval of 500 millisecond pulsar rotations. Matter is accreted through a stable accretion column from the disk onto the star. We also show propagation of the stellar wind through the corona. Analysis of the mass accretion flux and torques on the star shows that the disk reaches the quasi-stationary state.
In resistive and viscous magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) simulations we obtain axial jets launched from the innermost magnetosphere of a star-disk system. We found that in a part of the parameter space continuous asymmetric jets, which are propagating in opposite directions, are launched. We compare the speed of propagation and rotation of obtained jets with recent observational results.
We present fully three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic jet launching simulations of a jet source orbiting in a binary system. We consider a time-dependent binary gravitational potential, thus all tidal forces that are experienced in the non-inertial frame of the jet-launching primary. We investigate systems with different binary separation, different mass ratio, and different inclination between the disk plane and the orbital plane. The simulations run over a substantial fraction of the binary orbital period. All simulations show similar local and global non-axisymmetric effects such as local …
Turbulent magnetic diffusivity plays an important role for accretion disks and the launching of disk winds. We have implemented magnetic diffusivity, respective resistivity in the general relativistic MHD code HARM. This paper describes the theoretical background of our implementation, its numerical realization, our numerical tests and preliminary applications. The test simulations of the new code rHARM are compared with an analytic solution of the diffusion equation and a classical shock tube problem. We have further investigated the evolution of the magneto-rotational instability (MRI) in to…
We present an extension to the special relativistic, ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) equations, designed to capture effects due to resistivity. The extension takes the simple form of an additional source term which, when implemented numerically, is shown to emulate the behaviour produced by a fully resistive MHD description for a range of initial data. The extension is developed from first principle arguments, and thus requires no fine tuning of parameters, meaning it can be applied to a wide range of dynamical systems. Furthermore, our extension does not suffer from the same stiffness issues…
We perform GR-MHD simulations of outflow launching from thin accretion disks. As in the non-relativistic case, resistivity is essential for the mass loading of the disk wind. We implemented resistivity in the ideal GR-MHD code HARM3D, extending previous works (Qian et al. 2017, 2018) for larger physical grids, higher spatial resolution, and longer simulation time. We consider an initially thin, resistive disk orbiting the black hole, threaded by a large-scale magnetic flux. As the system evolves, outflows are launched from the black hole magnetosphere and the disk surface. We mainly focus on d…
Magnetic reconnection is a plasma phenomenon where a topological rearrangement of magnetic field lines with opposite polarity results in dissipation of magnetic energy into heat, kinetic energy and particle acceleration. Such a phenomenon is considered as an efficient mechanism for energy release in laboratory and astrophysical plasmas. An important question is how to make the process fast enough to account for observed explosive energy releases. The classical model for steady state magnetic reconnection predicts reconnection times scaling as $S^{1/2}$ (where $S$ is the Lundquist number) and y…
Astrophysical jets are launched from strongly magnetized systems that host an accretion disk surrounding a central object. The origin of the jet launching magnetic field is one of the open questions for modeling the accretion-ejection process. Here we address the question how to generate the accretion disk magnetization and field structure required for jet launching. Applying the PLUTO code, we present the first resistive MHD simulations of jet launching including a non-scalar accretion disk mean-field $α^2Ω$-dynamo in the context of large scale disk-jet simulations. Essentially, we find the $…
We perform resistive and viscous MHD simulations of axial jet launching from a magnetized thin accretion disk around a supermassive black hole. We compare the forces in our pseudo-Newtonian simulations for the Paczyński-Wiita and Kluźniak-Lee potentials. The results will help to find magnetic field configurations and physical parameters conducive to jet launching.
Classical MHD reconnection theories, both the stationary Sweet-Parker model and the tearing instability, are known to provide rates which are too slow to explain the observations. However, a recent analysis has shown that there exists a critical threshold on current sheet's thickness, namely a/L~S^(-1/3), beyond which the tearing modes evolve on fast macroscopic Alfvenic timescales, provided the Lunquist number S is high enough, as invariably found in solar and astrophysical plasmas. Therefore, the classical Sweet-Parker scenario, for which the diffusive region scales as a/L~S^(-1/2) and thus …
We present MHD simulations exploring the launching, acceleration and collimation of jets and disk winds. The evolution of the disk structure is consistently taken into account. Extending our earlier studies, we now consider the self-generation of the magnetic field by an $α^2Ω$ mean-field dynamo. The disk magnetization remains on a rather low level, that helps to evolve the simulations for $T > 10,000$ dynamical time steps on a domain extending 1500 inner disk radii. We find a magnetic field of the inner disk similar to the commonly found open field structure, favoring magneto-centrifugal laun…
We present a new magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) code for the simulation of wave propagation in the solar atmosphere, under the effects of electrical resistivity, but not dominant, and heat transference in a uniform 3D grid. The code is based on the finite volume method combined with the HLLE and HLLC approximate Riemann solvers, which use different slope limiters like MINMOD, MC, and WENO5. In order to control the growth of the divergence of the magnetic field, due to numerical errors, we apply the Flux Constrained Transport method, which is described in detail to understand how the resistive terms…
We study a resistive tearing instability developing in a system evolving through the combined effect of Hall drift in the Electron-MHD limit and Ohmic dissipation. We explore first the exponential growth of the instability in the linear case and we find the fastest growing mode, the corresponding eigenvalues and dispersion relation. The instability growth rate scales as $γ\propto B^{2/3} σ^{-1/3}$ where $B$ is the magnetic field and $σ$ the electrical conductivity. We confirm the development of the tearing resistive instability in the fully non-linear case, in a plane parallel configuration wh…
We describe a novel Godunov-type numerical method for solving the equations of resistive relativistic magnetohydrodynamics. In the proposed approach, the spatial components of both magnetic and electric fields are located at zone interfaces and are evolved using the constrained transport formalism. Direct application of Stokes' theorem to Faraday's and Ampere's laws ensures that the resulting discretization is divergence-free for the magnetic field and charge-conserving for the electric field. Hydrodynamic variables retain, instead, the usual zone-centred representation commonly adopted in fin…
Stationary Resistive MHD Solutions Near an Isolated Three-Dimensional Magnetic Null
Astronomical Institute, Czech Academy of Science（捷克科学院天文研究所）；Astronomical Institute, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University（查理大学数学物理学院天文研究所）；Escuela de Ingeniería Civil, Universidad de Valparaíso（瓦尔帕莱索大学土木工程学院）
