Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T15:58:59.310Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Links Between Jet Instabilities, Radiation and Propagation in Astrophysics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2017

Gregory Benford*
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of California, Irvine, California 92717

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

At the head of a jet the confining medium of plasma frequency νp is compressed, so that streaming instabilities between relativistic electrons and this plasma produce waves at νp′ > νp. Considerable power can be lodged in these electrostatic waves, and conversion to electromagnetic waves allows them to propagate far beyond the jet. Emission at ν ≈ νp′ or Compton boosted radiation at ν ≲ γ2 νp′ yields a cone of radiation of angle ~ 1/γ, which illuminates the region directly in front of the jet. This emission is not absorbed by the surrounding plasma unless a cloud blocks the jet. Absorption in a cloud can lead to tunneling through large clouds, or propelling of smaller clouds out of the jet path. In this fashion jets may clear their way through an inhomogeneous medium, avoiding lateral disturbances and preheating their path.

Type
Session II
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1985 

References

Benford, G., Smith, D.F., Phys. Fluids 25, 1450 (1982).Google Scholar
Benford, G., Tzach, D., Kato, K., and Smith, D., Phys. Rev. Lett. 45, 1182 (1980).Google Scholar
Cheung, P.Y., Wong, A. Y., Darrow, C.B., and Qian, S.J., Phys. Rev. Lett. 48, 1348 (1982).Google Scholar
Kato, K.G., Benford, G., Tzach, D., Phys. Rev. Lett. 50, 1587 (1983).Google Scholar
Papadopoulos, K., Phys. Fluids 18, 1769 (1975).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, D.F., Adv. Astron. Astrophys. 7, 147 (1970).Google Scholar
Whelan, D.A. and Stenzel, R.L., Phys. Rev. Lett. 47, 95 (1981).Google Scholar