QUASI-STATIC MODEL OF COLLIMATED JETS AND RADIO LOBES. I. ACCRETION DISK AND JETS

This is the first of a series of 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, magnetic helix that could explain both the observed radio jet/lobe structures on v...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Astrophysical journal Vol. 789; no. 2; pp. 144 - 12
Main Authors Colgate, Stirling A., Fowler, T. Kenneth, Li, Hui, Pino, Jesse
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 10.07.2014
Subjects
ACCRETION DISKS
ANGULAR MOMENTUM
ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
BLACK HOLES
Conservation
COSMIC RADIATION
EQUATIONS
GALAXIES
GALAXY NUCLEI
Jets
Lobes
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETIC FLUX
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
MASS
Mathematical models
Radio
SIMULATION
STEADY-STATE CONDITIONS
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Summary:This is the first of a series of 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, magnetic helix that could explain both the observed radio jet/lobe structures on very large scales and ultimately the enormous power inferred from the observed ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. In this work, we solve a set of one-dimensional equations similar to the steady-state standard accretion disk model, but now including the large-scale magnetic fields giving rises to jets. We find that the frequently made assumption that large-scale fields are frozen into the disk is fundamentally incorrect, due to the necessity for current and the accreting mass to flow perpendicular to magnetic flux surfaces. A correct treatment greatly simplifies the calculations, yielding fields that leave the disk nearly vertically with magnetic profiles uniquely determined by disk angular momentum conservation. Representative solutions of the magnetic fields in different radial regions of the disk surface are given, and they determine the overall key features in the jet structure and its dissipation, which will be the subjects of later papers.
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ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.1088/0004-637X/789/2/144