On Magnetohydrodynamic Jet Production in the Collapsing and Rotating Envelope

Daniel Proga
2005 Astrophysical Journal  
We present results from axisymmetric, time-dependent hydrodynamical (HD) and magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) simulations of a gaseous envelope collapsing onto a black hole (BH). We consider gas with so small angular momentum that after an initial transient, the flow in the HD case, accretes directly onto a BH without forming a rotationally support torus. However, in the MHD case even with a very weak initial magnetic field, the flow settles into a configuration with four components: (i) an
more » ... l inflow, (ii) a bipolar outflow, (iii) polar funnel outflow, and (iv) polar funnel inflow. We focus our analysis on the second flow component of the MHD flow which represents a simple yet robust example of a well-organized inflow/outflow solution to the problem of MHD jet formation. The jet is heavy, highly magnetized, and driven by magnetic and centrifugal forces. A significant fraction of the total energy in the jet is carried out by a large scale magnetic field. We review previous simulations, where specific angular momentum was higher than that assumed here, and conclude that our bipolar outflow develops for a wide range of the properties of the flow near the equator and near the poles. Future work on such a simple inflow/outflow solution will help to pinpoint the key elements of real jets/outflows as well as help to interpret much more complex simulations aimed at studying jet formation and collapse of magnetized envelopes.
doi:10.1086/431276 fatcat:ulihanw4ujgj3a2mhv2wl6urwq