Probing the dynamics of black hole jets with advanced semi analytical modelling
Abstract
The jets launched by black holes are widely believed to be a key component of the accretion process. However, despite being discovered decades ago, their physics and energetics are still poorly understood. The past decade has seen a dramatic improvement in the quality of available multiwavelength data, in terms of both spectral coverage and sensitivity. However, the semianalytical modelling of jets has advanced slowly, and simple onezone models are still the preferred method of interpreting data, in particular for AGN jets. These models can roughly constrain the properties of jets but they can not unambiguously couple their emission to the launching regions and internal dynamics, which are usually probed with General Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamics (GRMHD) simulations. On the other hand, simulations are not easily comparable to observations because they cannot yet self-consistently predict spectra. I will discuss the bulk of my PhD work, in which I developed a more advanced semianalytical model which accounts for the dynamics of the whole jet, starting from a simplified parametrization of Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamics in which the magnetic flux is converted into bulk kinetic energy. I applied to a variety of sources, from supermassive black holes to black hole X-ray binaries. This is the first time that the same physical model has been applied to such a large variety of sources, both in terms of accretion rate and black hole mass. In particular, I will highlight my work on the M87 radio galaxy, which is complementary to the observations taken by the Event Horizon Telescope.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #235
- Pub Date:
- January 2020
- Bibcode:
- 2020AAS...23541104L