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Paper   IPM / Astronomy / 13919
School of Astronomy
  Title:   Modeling MHD Accretion-Ejection: Episodic Ejections of Jets Triggered by a Mean-field Disk Dynamo
  Author(s): 
1.  D. Stepanovs
2.  C. Fendt
3.  S. Sheikhnezami
  Status:   Published
  Journal: Astrophysical Journal
  Vol.:  796
  Year:  2014
  Pages:   14
  Supported by:  IPM
  Abstract:
We present MHD simulations exploring the launching, acceleration, and collimation of jets and disk winds. The evolution of the disk structure is consistently taken into account. Extending our earlier studies, we now consider the self-generation of the magnetic field by an α2Ω mean-field dynamo. The disk magnetization remains on a rather low level, which helps to evolve the simulations for T > 10, 000 dynamical time steps on a domain extending 1500 inner disk radii. We find the magnetic field of the inner disk to be similar to the commonly found open field structure, favoring magneto-centrifugal launching. The outer disk field is highly inclined and predominantly radial. Here, differential rotation induces a strong toroidal component, which plays a key role in outflow launching. These outflows from the outer disk are slower, denser, and less collimated. If the dynamo action is not quenched, magnetic flux is continuously generated, diffuses outward through the disk, and fills the entire disk. We have invented a toy model triggering a time-dependent mean-field dynamo. The duty cycles of this dynamo lead to episodic ejections on similar timescales. When the dynamo is suppressed as the magnetization falls below a critical value, the generation of the outflows and also accretion is inhibited. The general result is that we can steer episodic ejection and large-scale jet knots by a disk-intrinsic dynamo that is time-dependent and regenerates the jet-launching magnetic field.

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