Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Scientific paper
2012-03-26
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Accepted for publication, MNRAS
Scientific paper
Recently observed minute timescale variability of blazar emission at TeV energies has imposed severe constraints on jet models and TeV emission mechanisms. We focus on a robust jet instability to explain this variability. As a consequence of the bulk outflow of the jet plasma, the pressure is likely to be anisotropic, with the parallel pressure $P_{||}$ in the forward jet direction exceeding the perpendicular pressure $P_{\perp}$. Under these circumstances, the jet is susceptible to the firehose instability, which can cause disruptions in the large scale jet structure and result in variability of the observed radiation. For a realistic range of parameters, we find that the growth timescale of the firehose instability is $\approx$ a few minutes, in good agreement with the observed TeV variability timescales for Mrk 501 (Albert et al. 2007) and PKS 2155-304 (Aharonian et al. 2007).
Becker Peter A.
Shukla Amit
Subramanian Prasad
No associations
LandOfFree
TeV blazar variability: the firehose instability? does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with TeV blazar variability: the firehose instability?, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and TeV blazar variability: the firehose instability? will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-642590