Simulations of jet formation from a magnetized accretion disk

Abstract

Axisymmetric magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations have been made of the formation of jets from a Keplerian disk threaded by a magnetic field. The disk is treated as a boundary condition, where matter with high specific entropy is ejected with a Keplerian azimuthal speed and a poloidal speed less than the slow magnetosonic velocity, and where boundary conditions on the magnetic fields correspond to a highly conducting disk. Initially, the space above the disk, the corona, is filled with high specific entropy plasma in the thermal equilibrium in the gravitational field of the central object. The initial magnetic field is poloidal and is represented by the superposition of the fields of monopoles located below the plane of the disk. The rotation of the disk twists the initial poloidal magnetic field lines, and this twist propagates into the corona pushing matter into jet-like outflow in a cylindrical region. After the first “switch-on wave”, which originates during the first rotation period of the inner radius of the disk, the matter outflowing from the disk starts to flow and accelerate in thez-direction owing to both the magnetic and pressure gradient forces. The flow accelerates through the slow magnetosonic and Alfven surfaces and at larger distances through the fast magnetosonic surface. The flow velocity of the jet is approximately parallel to thez-axis, with the collimation mainly a result of the pinching force of the toroidal magnetic field. The energy flux of the flow increases with increasing magnetic field strength on the disk. Some of the cases studied have been run for long times, 60 rotation periods of the inner radius of the disk, and show indications of approaching a stationary state.