On the role of magnetic reconnection in jet/accretion disk systems

TL;DR

This paper explores how magnetic reconnection may explain episodic jet ejections and heating in various astrophysical systems, extending previous models to include AGNs and YSOs.

Contribution

It generalizes the magnetic reconnection model for jet ejections from microquasars to other accretion disk systems like AGNs and YSOs.

Findings

Magnetic reconnection can produce quasi-periodic ejections in different systems.

Reconnection may contribute to jet heating and particle acceleration.

The model explains phenomena not covered by traditional magneto-centrifugal models.

Abstract

The most accepted model for jet production is based on the magneto-centrifugal acceleration out off an accretion disk that surrounds the central source (Blandford & Payne, 1982). This scenario, however, does not explain, e.g., the quasi-periodic ejection phenomena often observed in different astrophysical jet classes. de Gouveia Dal Pino & Lazarian (2005) (hereafter GDPL) have proposed that the large scale superluminal ejections observed in microquasars during radio flare events could be produced by violent magnetic reconnection (MR) episodes. Here, we extend this model to other accretion disk systems, namely: active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and young stellar objects (YSOs), and also discuss its role on jet heating and particle acceleration.