Simulations of Jets Driven by Black Hole Rotation

Abstract

The origin of jets emitted from black holes is not well understood; however, there are two possible energy sources: the accretion disk or the rotating black hole. Magnetohydrodynamic simulations show a well-defined jet that extracts energy from a black hole. If plasma near the black hole is threaded by large-scale magnetic flux, it will rotate with respect to asymptotic infinity, creating large magnetic stresses. These stresses are released as a relativistic jet at the expense of black hole rotational energy. The physics of the jet initiation in the simulations is described by the theory of black hole gravitohydromagnetics.