Jet power and jet suppression: The role of disk structure and black hole rotation

Abstract

I review a model in which the strongest radio-emitting jets are produced by black hole systems only when the accretion flow is both geometrically thick and the black hole is rotating rapidly. The model accounts for the radio powers of the strongest extragalactic sources and explains the correlation between radio jet power and accretion disk state seen in galactic black hole candidate sources. It appears unlikely that an ADAF-accreting Schwarzschild black hole will be able to produce a strong jet, despite the possibility of an inner rotationally-supported disk near the last stable orbit; the poloidal magnetic field will not be strong enough in that region. Comparison of these theoretical results with a radio power/black hole mass relation recently derived for quasars suggests that more massive black holes (e.g., bright quasars) may be rotating more rapidly than less massive ones (e.g., Seyfert galaxies).