Three-dimensional GRMHD Simulations of Neutron Star Jets

Abstract

Neutron stars and black holes in X-ray binaries are observed to host strong collimated jets in the hard spectral state. Numerical simulations can act as a valuable tool in understanding the mechanisms behind jet formation and its properties. Although there have been significant efforts in understanding black hole jets from general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations in recent years, neutron star jets still remain poorly explored. We present the results from three-dimensional GRMHD simulations of accreting neutron stars with oblique magnetospheres for the very first time. The jets in our simulations are produced due to the anchored magnetic field of the rotating star in analogy with the Blandford–Znajek process. We find that for accreting stars, the star–disk magnetic field interaction plays a significant role, and as a result, the jet power becomes directly proportional to , where Φjet is the open flux in the jet. The jet power decreases with increasing stellar magnetic inclination, and finally, for an orthogonal magnetosphere, it reduces by a factor of ≃2.95 compared to the aligned case. We also find that in the strong propeller regime, with a highly oblique magnetosphere, the disk-induced collimation of the open stellar flux preserves parts of the striped wind, resulting in a striped jet.