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We investigate the temporal evolution of an axisymmetric magnetosphere around a rapidly rotating stellar-mass black hole by applying a two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation scheme. Adopting homogeneous pair production and assuming that the mass accretion rate is much less than the Eddington limit, we find that the black hole's rotational energy is preferentially extracted from the middle latitudes and that this outward energy flux exhibits an enhancement that lasts approximately 160 dynamical timescales. It is demonstrated that the magnetohydrodynamic approximations cannot be justified in such a magnetically dominated magnetosphere because Ohm's law completely breaks down and the charge-separated electron–positron plasmas are highly nonneutral. An implication is given regarding the collimation of relativistic jets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the influence of velocity shear and a radial density profile on the spatial development of the current-driven (CD) kink instability along helically magnetized relativistic jets via three-dimensional relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations. In this study, we use a nonperiodic computational box, the jet flow is initially established across the computational grid, and a precessional perturbation at the inlet triggers growth of the kink instability. If the velocity shear radius is located inside the characteristic radius of the helical magnetic field, a static nonpropagating CD kink is excited as the perturbation propagates down the jet. Temporal growth disrupts the initial flow across the computational grid not too far from the inlet. On the other hand, if the velocity shear radius is outside the characteristic radius of the helical magnetic field, the kink is advected with the flow and grows spatially down the jet. In this case, flow is maintained to much larger distances from the inlet. The effect of different radial density profiles is more subtle. When the density increases with radius, the kink appears to saturate by the end of the simulation without apparent disruption of the helical twist. This behavior suggests that relativistic jets consisting of a tenuous spine surrounded by a denser medium with a velocity shear radius outside the radius of the maximum toroidal magnetic field have a relatively stable configuration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have investigated the influence of jet rotation and differential motion on the linear and nonlinear development of the current-driven (CD) kink instability of force-free helical magnetic equilibria via three-dimensional relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations. In this study, we follow the temporal development within a periodic computational box. Displacement of the initial helical magnetic field leads to the growth of the CD kink instability. We find that, in accordance with the linear stability theory, the development of the instability depends on the lateral distribution of the poloidal magnetic field. If the poloidal field significantly decreases outward from the axis, then the initial small perturbations grow strongly, and if multiple wavelengths are excited, then nonlinear interaction eventually disrupts the initial cylindrical configuration. When the profile of the poloidal field is shallow, the instability develops slowly and eventually saturates. We briefly discuss implications of our findings for Poynting-dominated jets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]