Kavli Affiliate: Roger Blandford
| First 5 Authors: Roger Blandford, Noemie Globus, , ,
| Summary:
We interpret the 1.3mm VLBI observations made by the Event Horizon Telescope
of the black hole in M87. It is proposed that, instead of being a torus of
accreting gas, the ring is a rotating, magnetically-dominated ergomagnetosphere
that can transmit electromagnetic angular momentum and energy outward to the
disc through a combination of large scale magnetic torque and small scale
instabilities. It is further proposed that energy can be extracted by magnetic
flux threading the ergosphere through the efficient emission of long wavelength
electromagnetic disturbances onto negative energy orbits, when the invariant
$B^2-E^2$ becomes negative. In this way, the spinning black hole and its
ergosphere not only power the jets but also the ejection disc so as to drive
away most of the gas supplied near the Bondi radius. This outflow takes the
form of a MHD wind, extending over many decades of radius, with a
unidirectional magnetic field, that is collimated by the infalling gas across a
magnetopause. This wind, in turn, collimates the relativistic jets and the
emission observed from the jet sheath may be associated with a return current.
A model for the global flow of mass, angular momentum, energy and current, on
scales from the horizon to the Bondi radius, is presented and discussed.
| Search Query: ArXiv Query: search_query=au:”Roger Blandford”&id_list=&start=0&max_results=10