Nonuniform Particle Injection into Black Hole Jets by Radiative Magnetic Reconnection
astro-ph.HE, physics.plasm-ph
Submitted: 2026-05-01
Updated: 2026-09-11
Comments: 25 pages, 15 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ
Journal ref: The Astrophysical Journal, 1008, 185 (2026)
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The gist: Active galactic nuclei often exhibit highly collimated relativistic plasma outflows launched from the vicinity of their central black holes.
Terminology
Abstract
Active galactic nuclei often exhibit highly collimated relativistic plasma outflows launched from the vicinity of their central black holes. One of the key theoretical challenges in understanding black hole jet formation is the origin of the plasma that feeds the jet, which remains poorly understood, particularly in explaining the observed jet emission. In this study, we focus on electron positron pair production generated by high energy photons from non axisymmetric magnetic reconnection near the black hole, as suggested by recent three dimensional general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics simulations. By employing general relativistic ray tracing, we calculate the spatial distribution of the pair production rate in the jet, taking into account photon propagation and collision angles in curved spacetime. We find that our scenario can naturally supply a sufficient amount of plasma to explain the observed radio emission from the M87 jet, even when photon anisotropy is considered. Furthermore, we show that a spinning black hole plays a crucial role in shaping the spartial dsitribution of the pairs, which in turn affects jet acceleration and very high energy emission from the jet base.
Sources
- The baryon content of magnetically arrested black hole disks and jets
- Emergence of cyclic flux eruptions in kinetic simulations of magnetized spherical accretion onto a Schwarzschild black hole
- Reconnection-driven Flares in M87*: Proton-Synchrotron-powered GeV Emission
- Collisionless Accretion of Finite-Angular-Momentum Plasma onto a Spinning Black Hole
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