The Role of the Equation of State in Resistive Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamics

TL;DR

This paper explores how the choice of the equation of state affects the dynamics in resistive relativistic magnetohydrodynamics, demonstrating significant impacts on shocks, instabilities, and magnetic reconnection through numerical simulations.

Contribution

The paper introduces a new resistive relativistic MHD code and systematically investigates the influence of different equations of state on simulation outcomes.

Findings

Equation of state choice significantly affects shock dynamics.

Electric conductivity impacts the development of instabilities.

Magnetic reconnection behavior varies with the equation of state.

Abstract

We have investigated the role of the equation of state in resistive relativistic magnetohydrodynamics using a newly developed resistive relativistic magnetohydrodynamic code. A number of numerical tests in one-dimension and multi-dimensions are carried out in order to check the robustness and accuracy of the new code. The code passes all the tests in situations involving both small and large uniform conductivities. Equations of state which closely approximate the single-component perfect relativistic gas are introduced. Results from selected numerical tests using different equations of state are compared. The main conclusion is that the choice of the equation of state as well as the value of the electric conductivity can result in considerable dynamical differences in simulations involving shocks, instabilities, and magnetic reconnection.