Microscopic processes in global relativistic jets containing helical magnetic fields: Dependence on jet radius

Ken Ichi Nishikawa; Yosuke Mizuno; Jose L. Gómez; Ioana Duţan; Athina Meli; Charley White; Jacek Niemiec; Oleh Kobzar; Martin Pohl; Asaf Pe'er; Jacob Trier Frederiksen; Åke Nordlund; Helene Sol; Philip E. Hardee; Dieter H. Hartmann

doi:10.3390/galaxies5040058

Microscopic processes in global relativistic jets containing helical magnetic fields: Dependence on jet radius

Ken Ichi Nishikawa, Yosuke Mizuno, Jose L. Gómez, Ioana Duţan, Athina Meli, Charley White, Jacek Niemiec, Oleh Kobzar, Martin Pohl, Asaf Pe'er, Jacob Trier Frederiksen, Åke Nordlund, Helene Sol, Philip E. Hardee, Dieter H. Hartmann

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Abstract

In this study, we investigate the interaction of jets with their environment at a microscopic level, which is a key open question in the study of relativistic jets. Using small simulation systems during past research, we initially studied the evolution of both electron-proton and electron-positron relativistic jets containing helical magnetic fields, by focusing on their interactions with an ambient plasma. Here, using larger jet radii, we have performed simulations of global jets containing helical magnetic fields in order to examine how helical magnetic fields affect kinetic instabilities, such as the Weibel instability, the kinetic Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (kKHI) and the mushroom instability (MI). We found that the evolution of global jets strongly depends on the size of the jet radius. For example, phase bunching of jet electrons, in particular in the electron-proton jet, is mixed with a larger jet radius as a result of the more complicated structures of magnetic fields with excited kinetic instabilities. In our simulation, these kinetic instabilities led to new types of instabilities in global jets. In the electron-proton jet simulation, a modified recollimation occurred, and jet electrons were strongly perturbed. In the electron-positron jet simulation, mixed kinetic instabilities occurred early, followed by a turbulence-like structure. Simulations using much larger (and longer) systems are required in order to further thoroughly investigate the evolution of global jets containing helical magnetic fields.

Original language	English
Article number	58
Journal	Galaxies
Volume	5
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/galaxies5040058
State	Published - 26 Sep 2017
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 by the author.

Funding

Acknowledgments: This work was supported by NSF AST-0908010, AST-0908040, NASA-NNX09AD16G, NNX12AH06G, NNX13AP-21G, and NNX13AP14G grants. The work of J.N. and O.K. has been supported by Narodowe Centrum Nauki through research project DEC-2013/10/E/ST9/00662. Y.M. is supported by the ERC Synergy Grant “BlackHoleCam—Imaging the Event Horizon of Black Holes” (Grant No. 610058). M.P. acknowledges support through grant PO 1508/1-2 of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Simulations were performed using the Pleiades and Endeavor facilities at NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS), using Gordon and Comet at The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), and using Stampede at the Texas Advanced Computing Center, which are supported by the NSF. This research was started during the program “Chirps, Mergers and Explosions: The Final Moments of Coalescing Compact Binaries” at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, which is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. PHY05-51164. The first velocity shear results using an electron–positron plasma were obtained during the Summer Aspen workshop “Astrophysical Mechanisms of Particle Acceleration and Escape from the Accelerators” held at the Aspen Center for Physics (September 1–15, 2013).

Funders	Funder number
National Science Foundation	NNX13AP-21G, NASA-NNX09AD16G, 0908010, 0908040, AST-0908040, NNX13AP14G, AST-0908010, NNX12AH06G
Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara
Seventh Framework Programme	610058
European Commission	PO 1508/1-2
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Narodowe Centrum Nauki	DEC-2013/10/E/ST9/00662

Keywords

Global jets
Helical magnetic fields
Kinetic instabilities
Kink-like instability
Particle-in-cell simulations
Polarized radiation
Recollimation shocks
Relativistic jets

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Nishikawa, K. I., Mizuno, Y., Gómez, J. L., Duţan, I., Meli, A., White, C., Niemiec, J., Kobzar, O., Pohl, M., Pe'er, A., Frederiksen, J. T., Nordlund, Å., Sol, H., Hardee, P. E., & Hartmann, D. H. (2017). Microscopic processes in global relativistic jets containing helical magnetic fields: Dependence on jet radius. Galaxies, 5(4), Article 58. https://doi.org/10.3390/galaxies5040058

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abstract = "In this study, we investigate the interaction of jets with their environment at a microscopic level, which is a key open question in the study of relativistic jets. Using small simulation systems during past research, we initially studied the evolution of both electron-proton and electron-positron relativistic jets containing helical magnetic fields, by focusing on their interactions with an ambient plasma. Here, using larger jet radii, we have performed simulations of global jets containing helical magnetic fields in order to examine how helical magnetic fields affect kinetic instabilities, such as the Weibel instability, the kinetic Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (kKHI) and the mushroom instability (MI). We found that the evolution of global jets strongly depends on the size of the jet radius. For example, phase bunching of jet electrons, in particular in the electron-proton jet, is mixed with a larger jet radius as a result of the more complicated structures of magnetic fields with excited kinetic instabilities. In our simulation, these kinetic instabilities led to new types of instabilities in global jets. In the electron-proton jet simulation, a modified recollimation occurred, and jet electrons were strongly perturbed. In the electron-positron jet simulation, mixed kinetic instabilities occurred early, followed by a turbulence-like structure. Simulations using much larger (and longer) systems are required in order to further thoroughly investigate the evolution of global jets containing helical magnetic fields.",

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AU - Nishikawa, Ken Ichi

AU - Mizuno, Yosuke

AU - Gómez, Jose L.

AU - Duţan, Ioana

AU - Meli, Athina

AU - White, Charley

AU - Niemiec, Jacek

AU - Kobzar, Oleh

AU - Pohl, Martin

AU - Pe'er, Asaf

AU - Frederiksen, Jacob Trier

AU - Nordlund, Åke

AU - Sol, Helene

AU - Hardee, Philip E.

AU - Hartmann, Dieter H.

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AB - In this study, we investigate the interaction of jets with their environment at a microscopic level, which is a key open question in the study of relativistic jets. Using small simulation systems during past research, we initially studied the evolution of both electron-proton and electron-positron relativistic jets containing helical magnetic fields, by focusing on their interactions with an ambient plasma. Here, using larger jet radii, we have performed simulations of global jets containing helical magnetic fields in order to examine how helical magnetic fields affect kinetic instabilities, such as the Weibel instability, the kinetic Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (kKHI) and the mushroom instability (MI). We found that the evolution of global jets strongly depends on the size of the jet radius. For example, phase bunching of jet electrons, in particular in the electron-proton jet, is mixed with a larger jet radius as a result of the more complicated structures of magnetic fields with excited kinetic instabilities. In our simulation, these kinetic instabilities led to new types of instabilities in global jets. In the electron-proton jet simulation, a modified recollimation occurred, and jet electrons were strongly perturbed. In the electron-positron jet simulation, mixed kinetic instabilities occurred early, followed by a turbulence-like structure. Simulations using much larger (and longer) systems are required in order to further thoroughly investigate the evolution of global jets containing helical magnetic fields.

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Microscopic processes in global relativistic jets containing helical magnetic fields: Dependence on jet radius

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

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