https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/20136102004
Current-Driven Kink Instability in Magnetically Dominated Rotating Relativistic Jet
1 Institute of Astronomy, National Tsing-Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan 30013, Republic of China
2 Physics Department, Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel
3 Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA
4 Department of Physics, University of Alabama in Huntsville, NSSTC, Huntsville, AL 35805, USA
a e-mail: mizuno@phys.nthu.edu.tw
Published online: 9 December 2013
We have investigated the influence of jet rotation and differential motion on the linear and nonlinear development of the current-driven (CD) kink instability of force-free helical magnetic equilibria via threedimensional relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations. In this study, we follow the temporal development within a periodic computational box. Displacement of the initial helical magnetic field leads to the growth of the CD kink instability. In rotating relativistic jet case, developed helical kink structure propagates along jet axis with continuous growth of kink amplitude. The growth rate of CD kink instability does not depend on the jet rotation. The coupling of multiple unstable wavelengths is crucial to determining whether the jet is eventually disrupted in nonlinear stage. The strongly deformed magnetic field via CD kink instability may trigger of magnetic reconnection in the jet.
© Owned by the authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2013
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
