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Astrophysical jet

Stream of ionized matter flowing away from a rotating astronomical object

An astrophysical jet is an astronomical phenomenon where ionised matter is expelled at high velocity from an astronomical object, in a pair of narrow streams aligned with the object's axis of rotation. |access-date=19 February 2017 |doi-access=free

Astrophysical jets are associated with many types of high-energy astronomical sources, such as black holes, neutron stars and pulsars. Their causes are not yet fully understood, but they are believed to arise from dynamic interactions within accretion disks. One explanation is that as an accretion disk spins, it generates a rotating, tangled magnetic field which concentrates material from the disk into the jets and then drives it away from the central object.{{cite journal |access-date=19 February 2017 |doi-access=free

Most of the largest and most active jets are created by supermassive black holes (SMBH) in the centre of active galaxies such as quasars and radio galaxies or within galaxy clusters. Such jets can exceed millions of parsecs in length. Other astronomical objects that produce, or are caused by, jets include cataclysmic variable stars, X-ray binaries and gamma-ray bursts (GRB). Jets on a much smaller scale (~parsecs) may be found in star forming regions, including T Tauri stars and Herbig–Haro objects; these objects are partially formed by the interaction of jets with the interstellar medium. Bipolar outflows may also be associated with protostars,{{cite web |access-date=26 May 2015

Relativistic jets

Relativistic jet

Relativistic jets are beams of ionised matter accelerated close to the speed of light. Most have been observationally associated with central black holes of some active galaxies, radio galaxies or quasars, and also by galactic stellar black holes, neutron stars or pulsars. Beam lengths may extend between several thousand, |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513034113/http://www.yale.edu/opa/newsr/06-06-20-01.all.html |archive-date=2008-05-13

Massive central black holes in galaxies have the most powerful jets, but their structure and behaviours are similar to those of smaller galactic neutron stars and black holes. These SMBH systems are often called microquasars and show a large range of velocities. SS 433 jet, for example, has a mean velocity of 0.26c. Relativistic jet formation may also explain observed gamma-ray bursts, which have the most relativistic jets known, being ultrarelativistic.

Mechanisms behind the composition of jets remain uncertain,

Rotation as possible energy source

Because of the enormous amount of energy needed to launch a relativistic jet, some jets are possibly powered by spinning black holes. However, the frequency of high-energy astrophysical sources with jets suggests combinations of different mechanisms indirectly identified with the energy within the associated accretion disk and X-ray emissions from the generating source. Two early theories have been used to explain how energy can be transferred from a black hole into an astrophysical jet:

Blandford–Znajek process. |doi-access=free
Penrose mechanism.

Relativistic jets from neutron stars

The pulsar IGR J11014-6103 with supernova remnant origin, nebula and jet

Jets may also be observed from spinning neutron stars. An example is pulsar IGR J11014-6103, which has the largest jet so far observed in the Milky Way, and whose velocity is estimated at 80% the speed of light (0.8c). X-ray observations have been obtained, but there is no detected radio signature nor accretion disk. |display-authors=etal |display-authors=etal |display-authors=etal

Other images

File:Opo0113i.jpg|Illustration of the dynamics of a proplyd, including a jet File:NGC 5128.jpg|Centaurus A in x-rays showing the relativistic jet File:Onde-radioM87.jpg|The M87 jet seen by the Very Large Array in radio frequency (the viewing field is larger and rotated with respect to the above image.) File:HST-3C66B-jet-O5BQ06010.gif|Hubble Legacy Archive Near-UV image of the relativistic jet in 3C 66B File:hs-2015-19-a-small web.jpg|Galaxy NGC 3862, an extragalactic jet of material moving at nearly the speed of light can be seen at the three o'clock position. File:Hubble Sees the Force Awakening in a Newborn Star (23807356641).jpg|Some of the jets in HH 24-26, which contains the highest concentration of jets known anywhere in the sky

References

Miller-Jones, James. (April 2019). "A rapidly changing jet orientation in the stellar-mass black-hole system V404 Cygni". Nature.
(2014). "A review of Astrophysical Jets". Acta Polytechnica CTU Proceedings.
(December 2008). "Jet Velocity in SS 433: Its Anticorrelation with Precession-Cone Angle and Dependence on Orbital Phase". The Astrophysical Journal.
(2022-09-24). "A wind environment and Lorentz factors of tens explain gamma-ray bursts X-ray plateau". Nature Communications.
[http://pc.astro.brandeis.edu/pdfs/elec-pos.pdf Electron–positron Jets Associated with Quasar 3C 279]

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