Evolution of current- and pressure-driven instabilities in relativistic jets

Abstract

ABSTRACT Instabilities in relativistic magnetized jets are thought to be deeply connected to their energy dissipation properties and to the consequent acceleration of the non-thermal emitting relativistic particles. Instabilities lead to the development of small-scale dissipative structures, in which magnetic energy is converted in other forms. In this paper we present three-dimensional numerical simulations of the instability evolution in highly magnetized plasma columns, considering different kinds of equilibria. In fact, the hoop stresses related to the azimuthal component of magnetic field can be balanced either by the magnetic pressure gradient (force-free equilibria, FF) or by the thermal pressure gradient (pressure-balanced equilibria, PB) or by a combination of the two. FF equilibria are prone to current-driven instabilities (CDI), while PB equilibria are prone to pressure-driven instabilities (PDI). We perform a global linear stability analysis, from which we derive the different instability properties in the two regimes, showing that PDI have larger growth rates and are also unstable for high wavenumbers. The numerical simulations of the non-linear instability evolution show similar phases of evolution in which the formation of strong current sheets is followed by a turbulent quasi-steady state. PDI are however characterized by a faster evolution, by the formation of smaller scale dissipative structures and larger magnetic energy dissipation.