1,860 research outputs found
Vertical Structure of Stationary Accretion Disks with a Large-Scale Magnetic Field
In earlier works we pointed out that the disk's surface layers are
non-turbulent and thus highly conducting (or non-diffusive) because the
hydrodynamic and/or magnetorotational (MRI) instabilities are suppressed high
in the disk where the magnetic and radiation pressures are larger than the
plasma thermal pressure. Here, we calculate the vertical profiles of the {\it
stationary} accretion flows (with radial and azimuthal components), and the
profiles of the large-scale, magnetic field taking into account the turbulent
viscosity and diffusivity and the fact that the turbulence vanishes at the
surface of the disk.
Also, here we require that the radial accretion speed be zero at the disk's
surface and we assume that the ratio of the turbulent viscosity to the
turbulent magnetic diffusivity is of order unity. Thus at the disk's surface
there are three boundary conditions. As a result, for a fixed dimensionless
viscosity -value, we find that there is a definite relation between the
ratio of the accretion power going into magnetic disk winds to the
viscous power dissipation and the midplane plasma-, which is the ratio
of the plasma to magnetic pressure in the disk. For a specific disk model with
of order unity we find that the critical value required for a
stationary solution is , where the disk's
half thickness. For weaker magnetic fields, , we argue that
the poloidal field will advect outward while for it will
advect inward. Alternatively, if the disk wind is negligible (), there are stationary solutions with .Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Transmission Line Analogy for Relativistic Poynting-Flux Jets
Radio emission, polarization, and Faraday rotation maps of the radio jet of
the galaxy 3C 303 have shown that one knot of this jet carries a {\it
galactic}-scale electric current and that it is magnetically dominated. We
develop the theory of magnetically dominated or Poynting-flux jets by making an
analogy of a Poynting jet with a transmission line or waveguide carrying a net
current and having a potential drop across it (from the jet's axis to its
radius) and a definite impedance which we derive. Time-dependent but not
necessarily small perturbations of a Poynting-flux jet are described by the
"telegrapher's equations." These predict the propagation speed of disturbances
and the effective wave impedance for forward and backward propagating wave
components. A localized disturbance of a Poynting jet gives rise to localized
dissipation in the jet which may explain the enhanced synchrotron radiation in
the knots of the 3C 303 jet, and also in the apparently stationary knot HST-1
in the jet near the nucleus of the nearby galaxy M87. For a relativistic
Poynting jet on parsec scales, the reflected voltage wave from an inductive
termination or load can lead to a backward propagating wave which breaks down
the magnetic insulation of the jet giving . At the
threshold for breakdown, , positive and negative
particles are directly accelerated in the direction which is
approximately along the jet axis. Acceleration can occur up to Lorentz factors
. This particle acceleration mechanism is distinct from that in
shock waves and that in magnetic field reconnection.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure
Relativistic Jets from Accretion Disks
The jets observed to emanate from many compact accreting objects may arise
from the twisting of a magnetic field threading a differentially rotating
accretion disk which acts to magnetically extract angular momentum and energy
from the disk. Two main regimes have been discussed, hydromagnetic jets, which
have a significant mass flux and have energy and angular momentum carried by
both matter and electromagnetic field and, Poynting jets, where the mass flux
is small and energy and angular momentum are carried predominantly by the
electromagnetic field. Here, we describe recent theoretical work on the
formation of relativistic Poynting jets from magnetized accretion disks.
Further, we describe new relativistic, fully-electromagnetic, particle-in-cell
simulations of the formation of jets from accretion disks. Analog Z-pinch
experiments may help to understand the origin of astrophysical jets.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, Proc. of High Energy Density Astrophysics Conf.,
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Book Review: Advanced Spatial Data Analysis with R, R. Bivand, E. Pebesma and V. Gomez-Rubio, Second Edition, Springer, Softcover and eBook, 405 pages, 2013
David Boyce and Huw Williams, Forecasting urban travel: Past, present and future
Urban Travel is an imposing book. Its 600+ pages are written in academic prose, interspersed with detailed quotations, high-quality graphics and a smattering of mathematics, deliberately placed in each chapter’s meticulous endnotes to increase readability. The chapters are ordered roughly chronologically, covering the entire gamut of computational transport forecasting models from the early developments in the US and UK (Chapters 2 and 3) through discrete choice modelling approaches (Chapters 4 and 5), activity-based and network equilibrium approaches (Chapters 6 and 7), the practice of travel forecasting (Chapters 8 and 9) to computational aspects of the field (Chapter 10) and prospects for the future (Chapter 11). The introductory and concluding chapters astutely synthesise these substantial strands of thought into a single narrative
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