Modeling the inner part of the jet in M87: Confronting jet morphology with theory.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38517970.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.adn3544 and PMC identifier 12697568.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The formation of jets in black hole accretion systems is a long-standing problem. It has been proposed that a jet can be formed by extracting the rotation energy of the black hole ("BZ-jet") or the accretion flow ("disk-jet"). While both models can produce collimated relativistic outflows, neither has successfully explained the observed jet morphology. By using general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations and considering nonthermal electrons accelerated by magnetic reconnection that is likely driven by magnetic eruption in the underlying accretion flow, we obtain images by radiative transfer calculations and compared them to millimeter observations of the jet in M87. We find that the BZ-jet originating from a magnetically arrested disk around a high-spin black hole can well reproduce the jet morphology, including its width and limb-brightening feature.