Stability of hydrodynamical relativistic planar jets. I. Linear evolution and saturation of Kelvin-Helmholtz modes

TL;DR

This paper investigates how relativistic effects influence the early linear development and saturation of Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities in planar jets using stability analysis and simulations across various jet speeds and energies.

Contribution

It provides a combined linear stability and numerical simulation study of relativistic jet instabilities, considering different Lorentz factors and internal energies.

Findings

Identification of the linear growth and saturation phases of Kelvin-Helmholtz modes.

Analysis of the impact of relativistic speeds on instability evolution.

Visualization of perturbation evolution through simulation figures.

Abstract

The effects of relativistic dynamics and thermodynamics in the development of Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities in planar, relativistic jets along the early phases (namely linear and saturation phases) of evolution has been studied by a combination of linear stability analysis and high-resolution numerical simulations for the most unstable first reflection modes in the temporal approach. Three different values of the jet Lorentz factor (5, 10 and 20) and a few different values of specific internal energy of the jet matter (from 0.08 to $60.0 c^2$) have been considered. Figures illustrating the evolution of the perturbations are also shown.