Synchrotron Polarization Signatures of Surface Waves in Supermassive Black Hole Jets
Supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei are known to launch relativistic jets, which are observed across the entire electromagnetic spectrum and thought to be efficient particle accelerators. Their primary radiation mechanism for radio emission is polarized synchrotron emission produced b...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2023-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad0b79 |
| _version_ | 1827593153574600704 |
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| author | J. Davelaar B. Ripperda L. Sironi A. A. Philippov H. Olivares O. Porth B. van den Berg T. Bronzwaer K. Chatterjee M. Liska |
| author_facet | J. Davelaar B. Ripperda L. Sironi A. A. Philippov H. Olivares O. Porth B. van den Berg T. Bronzwaer K. Chatterjee M. Liska |
| author_sort | J. Davelaar |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei are known to launch relativistic jets, which are observed across the entire electromagnetic spectrum and thought to be efficient particle accelerators. Their primary radiation mechanism for radio emission is polarized synchrotron emission produced by a population of nonthermal electrons. In this Letter, we present a global general relativistic magnetohydrodynamical (GRMHD) simulation of a magnetically arrested disk (MAD). After the simulation reaches the MAD state, we show that waves are continuously launched from the vicinity of the black hole and propagate along the interface between the jet and the wind. At this interface, a steep gradient in velocity is present between the mildly relativistic wind and the highly relativistic jet. The interface is, therefore, a shear layer, and due to the shear, the waves generate roll-ups that alter the magnetic field configuration and the shear layer geometry. We then perform polarized radiation transfer calculations of our GRMHD simulation and find signatures of the waves in both total intensity and linear polarization, effectively lowering the fully resolved polarization fraction. The telltale polarization signatures of the waves could be observable by future very long baseline interferometric observations, e.g., the next-generation Event Horizon Telescope. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T02:06:22Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-224ab697c0394218875ceb252ab1ad12 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2041-8205 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T02:06:22Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-224ab697c0394218875ceb252ab1ad122023-12-07T16:20:15ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal Letters2041-82052023-01-019591L310.3847/2041-8213/ad0b79Synchrotron Polarization Signatures of Surface Waves in Supermassive Black Hole JetsJ. Davelaar0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2685-2434B. Ripperda1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7301-3908L. Sironi2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1227-2754A. A. Philippov3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7801-0362H. Olivares4https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6833-7580O. Porth5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4584-2557B. van den Berg6T. Bronzwaer7https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1151-3971K. Chatterjee8https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2825-3590M. Liska9Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute , 162 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA ; jdavelaar@flatironinstitute.org; Department of Astronomy and Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University , 550 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USACanadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics , 60 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3H8, Canada; Department of Physics, University of Toronto , 60 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 1A7, Canada; David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy, University of Toronto , 50 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3H4, Canada; Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics , 31 Caroline Street North, Waterloo, ON N2L 2Y5, CanadaDepartment of Astronomy and Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University , 550 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USADepartment of Physics, University of Maryland , College Park, MD, USADepartment of Astrophysics/IMAPP, Radboud University , P.O. Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, The NetherlandsAnton Pannekoek Instituut , Universiteit van Amsterdam P.O. Box 94249, 1090 GE Amsterdam, The NetherlandsDepartment of Astrophysics/IMAPP, Radboud University , P.O. Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, The NetherlandsDepartment of Astrophysics/IMAPP, Radboud University , P.O. Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, The NetherlandsBlack Hole Initiative at Harvard University , 20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USAInstitute for Theory and Computation, Harvard University , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USASupermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei are known to launch relativistic jets, which are observed across the entire electromagnetic spectrum and thought to be efficient particle accelerators. Their primary radiation mechanism for radio emission is polarized synchrotron emission produced by a population of nonthermal electrons. In this Letter, we present a global general relativistic magnetohydrodynamical (GRMHD) simulation of a magnetically arrested disk (MAD). After the simulation reaches the MAD state, we show that waves are continuously launched from the vicinity of the black hole and propagate along the interface between the jet and the wind. At this interface, a steep gradient in velocity is present between the mildly relativistic wind and the highly relativistic jet. The interface is, therefore, a shear layer, and due to the shear, the waves generate roll-ups that alter the magnetic field configuration and the shear layer geometry. We then perform polarized radiation transfer calculations of our GRMHD simulation and find signatures of the waves in both total intensity and linear polarization, effectively lowering the fully resolved polarization fraction. The telltale polarization signatures of the waves could be observable by future very long baseline interferometric observations, e.g., the next-generation Event Horizon Telescope.https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad0b79Astrophysical black holesSupermassive black holesActive galactic nucleiJetsRelativistic jetsRadiative transfer simulations |
| spellingShingle | J. Davelaar B. Ripperda L. Sironi A. A. Philippov H. Olivares O. Porth B. van den Berg T. Bronzwaer K. Chatterjee M. Liska Synchrotron Polarization Signatures of Surface Waves in Supermassive Black Hole Jets The Astrophysical Journal Letters Astrophysical black holes Supermassive black holes Active galactic nuclei Jets Relativistic jets Radiative transfer simulations |
| title | Synchrotron Polarization Signatures of Surface Waves in Supermassive Black Hole Jets |
| title_full | Synchrotron Polarization Signatures of Surface Waves in Supermassive Black Hole Jets |
| title_fullStr | Synchrotron Polarization Signatures of Surface Waves in Supermassive Black Hole Jets |
| title_full_unstemmed | Synchrotron Polarization Signatures of Surface Waves in Supermassive Black Hole Jets |
| title_short | Synchrotron Polarization Signatures of Surface Waves in Supermassive Black Hole Jets |
| title_sort | synchrotron polarization signatures of surface waves in supermassive black hole jets |
| topic | Astrophysical black holes Supermassive black holes Active galactic nuclei Jets Relativistic jets Radiative transfer simulations |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad0b79 |
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