Ergosphere-driven Winds
Abstract
This paper is a discussion of a physical mechanism that allows large-scale magnetic fields to torque rapidly rotating black holes in an astrophysical context. The physics which is involved is that plasma in the ergosphere must rotate. Thus, if ergospheric plasma gets frozen onto large-scale magnetic field lines, then it can drive a magnetic wind to infinity, as is conjectured to occur in field-aligned pulsars. Included in this paper is a discussion of ingoing magnetic winds that accrete either toward the event horizon or to the equatorial plane in the ergosphere.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- May 1990
- DOI:
- 10.1086/168717
- Bibcode:
- 1990ApJ...354..583P
- Keywords:
-
- Black Holes (Astronomy);
- Magnetic Field Configurations;
- Rotating Plasmas;
- Stellar Magnetic Fields;
- Stellar Winds;
- Accretion Disks;
- Angular Momentum;
- Extragalactic Radio Sources;
- Field Aligned Currents;
- Magnetohydrodynamic Flow;
- Schwarzschild Metric;
- Astrophysics;
- BLACK HOLES;
- HYDROMAGNETICS;
- STARS: WINDS