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Register a new userPolarization Signatures of Kink Instabilities in the Blazar Emission Region from Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations
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Haocheng Zhang
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Kink instabilities are likely to occur in the current-carrying magnetized plasma jets. Recent observations of the blazar radiation and polarization signatures suggest that the blazar emission region may be considerably magnetized. While the kink instability has been studied with first-principle magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations, the corresponding time-dependent radiation and polarization signatures have not been investigated. In this paper, we perform comprehensive polarization-dependent radiation modeling of the kink instability in the blazar emission region based on relativistic MHD (RMHD) simulations. We find that the kink instability may give rise to strong flares with polarization angle (PA) swings or weak flares with polarization fluctuations, depending on the initial magnetic topology and magnetization. These findings are consistent with observations. Compared with the shock model, the kink model generates polarization signatures that are in better agreement with the general polarization observations. Therefore, we suggest that kink instabilities may widely exist in the jet environment, and provide an efficient way to convert the magnetic energy and produce multiwavelength flares and polarization variations.
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The optical radiation and polarization signatures in blazars are known to be highly variable during flaring activities. It is frequently argued that shocks are the main driver of the flaring events. However, the spectral variability modelings generally lack detailed considerations of the self-consistent magnetic field evolution modeling, thus so far the associated optical polarization signatures are poorly understood. We present the first simultaneous modeling of the optical radiation and polarization signatures based on 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations of relativistic shocks in the blazar emission environment, with the simplest physical assumptions. By comparing the results with observations, we find that shocks in a weakly magnetized environment will largely lead to significant changes in the optical polarization signatures, which are seldom seen in observations. Hence an emission region with relatively strong magnetization is preferred. In such an environment, slow shocks may produce minor flares with either erratic polarization fluctuations or considerable polarization variations, depending on the parameters; fast shocks can produce major flares with smooth PA rotations. In addition, the magnetic fields in both cases are observed to actively revert to the original topology after the shocks. All these features are consistent with observations. Future observations of the radiation and polarization signatures will further constrain the flaring mechanism and the blazar emission environment.
This paper presents a simple model of polarisation rotation in optically thin relativistic jets of blazars. The model is based on the development of helical (kink) mode of current-driven instability. A possible explanation is suggested for the observational connection between polarisation rotations and optical/gamma-ray flares in blazars, if the current-driven modes are triggered by secular increases of the total jet power. The importance of intrinsic depolarisation in limiting the amplitude of coherent polarisation rotations is demonstrated. The polarisation rotation amplitude is thus very sensitive to the viewing angle, which appears to be inconsistent with the observational estimates of viewing angles in blazars showing polarisation rotations. Overall, there are serious obstacles to explaining large-amplitude polarisation rotations in blazars in terms of current-driven kink modes.
The classical, relativistic thin-disk theory of Novikov and Thorne (NT) predicts a maximum accretion efficiency of 40% for an optically thick, radiatively efficient accretion disk around a maximally spinning black hole (BH). However, when a strong magnetic field is introduced to numerical simulations of thin disks, large deviations in efficiency are observed, in part due to mass and energy carried by jets and winds launched by the disk or BH spin. The total efficiency of accretion can be significantly enhanced beyond that predicted by NT but it has remained unclear how the radiative component is affected. In order to study the effect of a dynamically relevant large-scale magnetic field on radiatively efficient accretion, we have performed numerical 3D general relativistic - radiative - magnetohydroynamic (GRRMHD) simulations of a disk with scale height to radius ratio of $H/R~0.1$ around a moderately spinning BH (a=0.5) using the code HARMRAD. Our simulations are fully global and allow us to measure the jet, wind, and radiative properties of a magnetically arrested disk (MAD) that is kept thin via self-consistent transport of energy by radiation using the M1 closure scheme. Our fiducial disk is MAD out to a radius of ~16R_g and the majority of the total ~13% efficiency of the accretion flow is carried by a magnetically driven wind. We find that the radiative efficiency is slightly suppressed compared to NT, contrary to prior MAD GRMHD simulations with an ad hoc cooling function, but it is unclear how much of the radiation and thermal energy trapped in the outflows could ultimately escape.
Broadband emission from relativistic outflows (jets) of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) contains valuable information about the nature of the jet itself, and about the central engine which launches it. Using special relativistic hydrodynamics and magnetohydronamics simulations we study the dynamics of the jet and its interaction with the surrounding medium. The observational signature of the simulated jets is computed using a radiative transfer code developed specifically for the purpose of computing multi-wavelength, time-dependent, non-thermal emission from astrophysical plasmas. We present results of a series of long-term projects devoted to understanding the dynamics and emission of jets in parsec-scale AGN jets, blazars and the afterglow phase of the GRBs.
Black hole (BH) accretion flows and jets are qualitatively affected by the presence of ordered magnetic fields. We study fully three-dimensional global general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of radially extended and thick (height $H$ to cylindrical radius $R$ ratio of $|H/R|sim 0.2--1$) accretion flows around BHs with various dimensionless spins ($a/M$, with BH mass $M$) and with initially toroidally-dominated ($phi$-directed) and poloidally-dominated ($R-z$ directed) magnetic fields. Firstly, for toroidal field models and BHs with high enough $|a/M|$, coherent large-scale (i.e. $gg H$) dipolar poloidal magnetic flux patches emerge, thread the BH, and generate transient relativistic jets. Secondly, for poloidal field models, poloidal magnetic flux readily accretes through the disk from large radii and builds-up to a natural saturation point near the BH. For sufficiently high $|a/M|$ or low $|H/R|$ the polar magnetic field compresses the inflow into a geometrically thin highly non-axisymmetric magnetically choked accretion flow (MCAF) within which the standard linear magneto-rotational instability is suppressed. The condition of a highly-magnetized state over most of the horizon is optimal for the Blandford-Znajek mechanism that generates persistent relativistic jets with $gtrsim 100$% efficiency for $|a/M|gtrsim 0.9$. A magnetic Rayleigh-Taylor and Kelvin-Helmholtz unstable magnetospheric interface forms between the compressed inflow and bulging jet magnetosphere, which drives a new jet-disk quasi-periodic oscillation (JD-QPO) mechanism. The high-frequency QPO has spherical harmonic $|m|=1$ mode period of $tausim 70GM/c^3$ for $a/Msim 0.9$ with coherence quality factors $Qgtrsim 10$. [abridged]
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