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The Magnetic Rayleigh-Taylor Instability in Astrophysical DiscsThis is our first study of the magnetic Rayleigh-Taylor instability at the inner edge of an astrophysical disc around a central back hole. We derive the equations governing small-amplitude oscillations in general relativistic ideal magnetodydrodynamics and obtain a criterion for the onset of the instability. We suggest that static disc configurations where magnetic field is held by the disc material are unstable around a Schwarzschild black hole. On the other hand, we find that such configurations are stabilized by the space-time rotation around a Kerr black hole. We obtain a crude estimate of the maximum amount of poloidal magnetic flux that can be accumulated around the centre, and suggest that it is proportional to the black hole spin. Finally, we discuss the astrophysical implications of our result for the theoretical and observational estimations of the black hole jet power.
Document ID
20170003739
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Contopoulos, I.
(Academy of Athens Greece)
Kazanas, D.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Papadopoulos, D. B.
(Aristotle Univ. of Thessaloniki Greece)
Date Acquired
April 20, 2017
Publication Date
July 1, 2016
Publication Information
Publication: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Volume: 462
Issue: 1
ISSN: 0035-8711
e-ISSN: 1365-2966
Subject Category
Numerical Analysis
Astrophysics
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN41818
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
MHD
gravitation

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