Energy Extraction from Spinning Black Holes via Relativistic Jets

TL;DR

This paper discusses how energy from spinning black holes powers relativistic jets, supported by simulations and observations linking black hole spin to jet luminosity, indicating a causal relationship.

Contribution

It provides evidence from simulations and observations that black hole spin energy significantly contributes to jet power, strengthening the spin-powered jet hypothesis.

Findings

Simulations show jets form spontaneously around spinning black holes.

Jet radio luminosity correlates with black hole spin measurements.

Black hole spin energy likely powers relativistic jets.

Abstract

It has for long been an article of faith among astrophysicists that black hole spin energy is responsible for powering the relativistic jets seen in accreting black holes. Two recent advances have strengthened the case. First, numerical general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of accreting spinning black holes show that relativistic jets form spontaneously. In at least some cases, there is unambiguous evidence that much of the jet energy comes from the black hole, not the disk. Second, spin parameters of a number of accreting stellar-mass black holes have been measured. For ballistic jets from these systems, it is found that the radio luminosity of the jet correlates with the spin of the black hole. This suggests a causal relationship between black hole spin and jet power, presumably due to a generalized Penrose process.