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Studying the Galactic Central Engine from Space Observatories

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

Howard D. Greyber*
Affiliation:
Greyber Associates, 10123 Falls Road, Potomac, MD 20854, U.S.A.

Extract

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Three general models have been constructed for the fantastically powerful “central engine” that powers the enormous energy output from quasars and active galactic nuclei (AGN). One model assumes a rapidly rotating accretion disk around a central black hole (however the disks, thick or thin, are subject to violent instabilities). Another assumes that in some postulated circuitry energy is extracted from the rotational portion of the deepest potential hole known, a black hole. Both models appear implausible.

The third model is the STRONG MAGNETIC FIELD MODEL (SMF) in which an extremely strong gravitationally bound current loop (GBCL) is formed during the gravitational collapse that forms the galaxy or quasar, producing a very intense dipole magnetic field anchored in the nucleus. SMF, first published in 1962, thus predicted the vertical magnetic field configuration seen today at our own galactic nucleus; to some the radio arcs observed suggest a dipole magnetic field there, just as SMF predicts.

Type
V. Long Term Future Issues
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1990

References

Greyber, H.D., 1990 Strong Magnetic Fields, Galaxy Formation and the Galactic Engine in 14th Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics, New York: Annual of the New York Acad. of Sciences, 571 239, and earlier references cited therein.Google Scholar