[Previous] | [Session 4] | [Next]
P.E. Hardee (U. Alabama)
The resolved relativistic jets contain structures whose observed proper motions are typically assumed to indicate the jet flow speed. In addition to structures moving with the flow, various normal mode structures such as pinching or helical and elliptical twisting can be produced by ejection events or twisting perturbations to the jet flow. The normal mode structures associated with relativistic jets, as revealed by numerical simulation, theoretical calculation, and suggested by observation, move more slowly than the jet speed. The pattern speed is related to the jet speed by the sound speed in the jet and in the surrounding medium. In the event that normal mode structures are observed, and where proper motions of pattern and flow speed are available or can be estimated, it is possible to determine the sound speed in the jet and surrounding medium. Where spatial development of normal mode structures is observed, it is possible to make inferences as to the heating rate/macroscopic viscosity of the jet fluid. Ultimately it may prove possible to separate the microscopic energization of the synchrotron radiating particles from the macroscopic heating of the jet fluid. Here I present the relevant properties of useful normal mode structures and illustrate the use of this technique.
Various aspects of the work presented here have involved collaboration with I. Agudo (Max-Planck, Bonn), M.A. Aloy (Max-Planck, Garching), J. Eilek (NM Tech), J.L. Gómez (U. Valencia), P. Hughes (U. Michigan), A. Lobanov (Max-Planck, Bonn), J.M. Mart\'{i} (U. Valencia), & C. Walker (NRAO).
[Previous] | [Session 4] | [Next]
Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 #3
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.