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Comisso, L., & Asenjo, F. A. (2021). Magnetic reconnection as a mechanism for energy extraction from rotating black holes. Phys. Rev. D., 103(2), 023014.
Abstract: Spinning black holes store rotational energy that can be extracted. When a black hole is immersed in an externally supplied magnetic field, reconnection of magnetic field lines within the ergosphere can generate negative energy (relative to infinity) particles that fall into the black hole event horizon while the other accelerated particles escape stealing energy from the black hole. We show analytically that energy extraction via magnetic reconnection is possible when the black hole spin is high (dimensionless spin a similar to 1) and the plasma is strongly magnetized (plasma magnetization sigma(0) > 1/3). The parameter space region where energy extraction is allowed depends on the plasma magnetization and the orientation of the reconnecting magnetic field lines. For sigma(0) >> 1, the asymptotic negative energy at infinity per enthalpy of the decelerated plasma that is swallowed by a maximally rotating black hole is found to be epsilon(infinity)(-) similar or equal to – root sigma(0)/3. The accelerated plasma that escapes to infinity and takes away black hole energy asymptotes the energy at infinity per enthalpy epsilon(infinity)(+) similar or equal to root 3 sigma(0).. We show that the maximum power extracted from the black hole by the escaping plasma is P-extr(max) similar to 0.1M(2) root sigma(0)w(0) (here, M is the black hole mass and w(0) is the plasma enthalpy density) for the collisionless plasma regime and one order of magnitude lower for the collisional regime. Energy extraction causes a significant spindown of the black hole when a similar to 1. The maximum efficiency of the plasma energization process via magnetic reconnection in the ergosphere is found to be eta(max) similar or equal to 3/2. Since fast magnetic reconnection in the ergosphere should occur intermittently in the scenario proposed here, the associated emission within a few gravitational radii from the black hole is expected to display a bursty nature.
Keywords: BLANDFORD-ZNAJEK MECHANISM; NEAR-INFRARED FLARES; SIMULATIONS; JETS; DRIVEN
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Nogueira, P. H., Zurlo, A., Perez, S., Gonzalez-Ruilova, C.,, Cieza, L. A., Hales, A., et al. (2023). Resolving the binary components of the outbursting protostar HBC 494 with ALMA. Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc., 523(4), 4970–4991.
Abstract: Episodic accretion is a low-mass pre-main sequence phenomenon characterized by sudden outbursts of enhanced accretion. These objects are classified into two: protostars with elevated levels of accretion that lasts for decades or more, called FUors, and protostars with shorter and repetitive bursts, called EXors. HBC 494 is a FUor object embedded in the Orion Molecular Cloud. Earlier Atacama Large (sub-)Millimeter Array (ALMA) continuum observations showed an asymmetry in the disc at 0.“2 resolution. Here, we present follow-up observations at similar to 0.”03, resolving the system into two components: HBC 494 N (primary) and HBC 494 S (secondary). No circumbinary disc was detected. Both discs are resolved with a projected separation of similar to 0."18 (75 au). Their projected dimensions are 84 +/- 1.8 x66.9 +/- 1.5 mas for HBC 494 N and 64.6 +/- 2.5 x46.0 +/- 1.9 mas for HBC 494 S. The discs are almost aligned and with similar inclinations. The observations show that the primary is similar to 5 times brighter/more massive and similar to 2 times bigger than the secondary. We notice that the northern component has a similar mass to the FUors, while the southern has to EXors. The HBC 494 discs show individual sizes that are smaller than single eruptive YSOs. In this work, we also report (CO)-C-12, (CO)-C-13, and (CO)-O-18 molecular line observations. At large scale, the (CO)-C-12 emission shows bipolar outflows, while the (CO)-C-13 and (CO)-O-18 maps show a rotating and infalling envelope around the system. At a smaller scale, the (CO)-C-12 and (CO)-C-13 moment zero maps show cavities within the continuum discs' area, which may indicate continuum over-subtraction or slow-moving jets and chemical destruction along the line of sight.
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