No Arabic abstract
We analyze the interaction of a radiation-dominated jet and its surroundings using the equations of radiation hydrodynamics in the viscous limit. In a previous paper we considered the two-stream scenario, which treats the jet and its surroundings as distinct media interacting through radiation viscous forces. Here we present an alternative boundary layer model, known as the free-streaming jet model -- where a narrow stream of fluid is injected into a static medium -- and present solutions where the flow is ultrarelativistic and the boundary layer is dominated by radiation. It is shown that these jets entrain material from their surroundings and that their cores have a lower density of scatterers and a harder spectrum of photons, leading to observational consequences for lines of sight that look down the barrel of the jet. These jetted outflow models may be applicable to the jets produced during long gamma-ray bursts and super-Eddington phases of tidal disruption events.
Using the relativistic equations of radiation hydrodynamics in the viscous limit, we analyze the boundary layers that develop between radiation-dominated jets and their environments. In this paper we present the solution for the self-similar, 2-D, plane-parallel two-stream problem, wherein the jet and the ambient medium are considered to be separate, interacting fluids, and we compare our results to those of previous authors. (In a companion paper we investigate an alternative scenario, known as the free-streaming jet model.) Consistent with past findings, we show that the boundary layer that develops between the jet and its surroundings creates a region of low-density material. These models may be applicable to sources such as super-Eddington tidal disruption events and long gamma-ray bursts.
We study the collimation of relativistic hydrodynamic jets by the pressure of an ambient medium in the limit where the jet interior has lost causal contact with its surroundings. For a jet with an ultrarelativistic equation of state and external pressure that decreases as a power of spherical radius, p propto r^(-eta), the jet interior will lose causal contact when eta > 2. However, the outer layers of the jet gradually collimate toward the jet axis as long as eta < 4, leading to the formation of a shocked boundary layer. Assuming that pressure-matching across the shock front determines the shape of the shock, we study the resulting structure of the jet in two ways: first by assuming that the pressure remains constant across the shocked boundary layer and looking for solutions to the shock jump equations, and then by constructing self-similar boundary-layer solutions that allow for a pressure gradient across the shocked layer. We demonstrate that the constant-pressure solutions can be characterized by four initial parameters that determine the jet shape and whether the shock closes to the axis. We show that self-similar solutions for the boundary layer can be constructed that exhibit a monotonic decrease in pressure across the boundary layer from the contact discontinuity to the shock front, and that the addition of this pressure gradient in our initial model generally causes the shock front to move outwards, creating a thinner boundary layer and decreasing the tendency of the shock to close. We discuss trends based on the value of the pressure power-law index eta.
Hot relativistic jets, passing through a background medium with a pressure gradient p propto r^{-eta} where 2 < eta <= 8/3, develop a shocked boundary layer containing a significant fraction of the jet power. In previous work, we developed a self-similar description of the boundary layer assuming isentropic flow, but we found that such models respect global energy conservation only for the special case eta = 8/3. Here we demonstrate that models with eta < 8/3 can be made self-consistent if we relax the assumption of constant specific entropy. Instead, the entropy must increase with increasing r along the boundary layer, presumably due to multiple shocks driven into the flow as it gradually collimates. The increase in specific entropy slows the acceleration rate of the flow and provides a source of internal energy that could be channeled into radiation. We suggest that this process may be important for determining the radiative characteristics of tidal disruption events and gamma-ray bursts from collapsars.
Relativistic jets launched by rotating black holes are powerful emitters of non-thermal radiation. Extraction of the rotational energy via electromagnetic stresses produces magnetically-dominated jets, which may become turbulent. Studies of magnetically-dominated plasma turbulence from first principles show that most of the accelerated particles have small pitch angles, i.e. the particle velocity is nearly aligned with the local magnetic field. We examine synchrotron-self-Compton radiation from anisotropic particles in the fast cooling regime. The small pitch angles reduce the synchrotron cooling rate and promote the role of inverse Compton (IC) cooling, which can occur in two different regimes. In the Thomson regime, both synchrotron and IC components have soft spectra, $ u F_ upropto u^{1/2}$. In the Klein-Nishina regime, synchrotron radiation has a hard spectrum, typically $ u F_ upropto u$, over a broad range of frequencies. Our results have implications for the modelling of BL Lacs and Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs). BL Lacs produce soft synchrotron and IC spectra, as expected when Klein-Nishina effects are minor. The observed synchrotron and IC luminosities are typically comparable, which indicates a moderate anisotropy with pitch angles $thetagtrsim0.1$. Rare orphan gamma-ray flares may be produced when $thetall0.1$. The hard spectra of GRBs may be consistent with synchrotron radiation when the emitting particles are IC cooling in the Klein-Nishina regime, as expected for pitch angles $thetasim0.1$. Blazar and GRB spectra can be explained by turbulent jets with a similar electron plasma magnetisation parameter, $sigma_{rm e}sim10^4$, which for electron-proton plasmas corresponds to an overall magnetisation $sigma=(m_{rm e}/m_{rm p})sigma_{rm e}sim10$.
We perform detailed variability analysis of two-dimensional viscous, radiation hydrodynamic numerical simulations of Shakura-Sunyaev thin disks around a stellar mass black hole. Disk models are initialized on both the gas-, as well as radiation-, pressure-dominated branches of the thermal equilibrium curve, with mass accretion rates spanning the range from $dot{M} = 0.01 L_mathrm{Edd}/c^2$ to $10 L_mathrm{Edd}/c^2$. An analysis of temporal variations of the numerically simulated disk reveals multiple robust, coherent oscillations. Considering the local mass flux variability, we find an oscillation occurring at the maximum radial epicyclic frequency, $3.5times 10^{-3},t_mathrm{g}^{-1}$, a possible signature of a trapped fundamental ${it g}$-mode. Although present in each of our simulated models, the trapped ${it g}$-mode feature is most prominent in the gas-pressure-dominated case. The total pressure fluctuations in the disk suggest strong evidence for standing-wave ${it p}$-modes, some trapped in the inner disk close to the ISCO, others present in the middle/outer parts of the disk. Knowing that the trapped ${it g}$-mode frequency and maximum radial epicyclic frequency differ by only $0.01%$ in the case of a non-rotating black hole, we simulated an additional initially gas-pressure-dominated disk with a dimensionless black hole spin parameter $a_* = 0.5$. The oscillation frequency in the spinning black hole case confirms that this oscillation is indeed a trapped ${it g}$-mode. All the numerical models we report here also show a set of high frequency oscillations at the vertical epicyclic and breathing mode frequencies. The vertical oscillations show a 3:2 frequency ratio with oscillations occurring approximately at the radial epicyclic frequency, which could be of astrophysical importance in observed twin peak, high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations.