Relativistic Acceleration of Magnetically Driven Jets

Details Relativistic Acceleration of Magnetically Driven Jets Relativistic Acceleration of Magnetically Driven Jets

2003-03-22

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0303509v1

Astrophys.J. 592 (2003) 321-331

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

23 pages, 7 eps figures, submitted to ApJ

Scientific paper

10.1086/375579

We present an analytical model for describing highly relativistic acceleration of magnetically driven jets, within the framework of ideal MHD for cold, stationary and axisymmetric outflows. Our novel procedure is to treat the wind equation as an algebraic relation between the relativistic Alfv\'{e}n Mach-number and the poloidal electric to toroidal magnetic field amplitudes ratio $\xi$. This allows us to obtain easily the wind solutions for trans-fast-magnetosonic flows, together with the required range of $\xi$. Then, to determine the spatial variation of $\xi$, we solve approximately the Grad-Shafranov equation applied to a jet flow ejected with a very large total specific energy $E$ and confined within a very small opening angle. Our trans-fast-magnetosonic model provides a closed-form expression for the transition from a magnetically dominated flow to a kinetic-energy dominated one, which occurs in the sub-asymptotic region far beyond the light cylinder of the radius $R_{\rm L}$. Importantly, we find that the equipartition between magnetic and kinetic energies is realized at a cylindrical radius of order of $R_{\rm L}E/c^{2}$, and confirm that the further conversion of magnetic to kinetic energy proceeds logarithmically with distance in the asymptotic region. Finally, we discuss briefly the astrophysical implications of our model for jets originating from active galactic nuclei.

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