Abstract
Strong magnetic fields can efficiently extract rotational energy from compact objects launching the relativistic jets observed in active galactic nuclei (AGN), microquasars and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) acceleration of jets in the ideal MHD limit is not an ultra-efficient process. This makes internal collisions an unlikely mechanism for the jet emission. I argue that non-ideal MHD effects may both boost the acceleration efficiency and power the jet emission. I show that much of the GRB and blazar phenomenology can be understood as result of magnetic dissipation and that the early afterglow phases from GRBs appear to support the picture of MHD driving.
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