Related papers: Impulsive Acceleration of Strongly Magnetized Rela…
Important astrophysical sources, such as gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) or tidal disruption events, are impulsive -- strongly varying with time. These outflows are likely highly magnetized near the central source, but their interaction with the…
Astrophysical sources of relativistic jets or outflows, such as gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), active galactic nuclei (AGN) or micro-quasars, often show strong time variability. Despite such impulsive behavior, most models of these sources assume…
We present a relativistic-MHD numerical study of axisymmetric, magnetically driven jets with parameters applicable to gamma-ray burst (GRB) flows. We also present analytic expressions for the asymptotic jet shape and other flow parameters…
We present numerical simulations of axisymmetric, magnetically driven relativistic jets. To eliminate the dissipative effects induced by a free boundary with an ambient medium we assume that the flow is confined by a rigid wall of a…
We present a general formulation of special-relativistic magnetohydrodynamics and derive exact radially self-similar solutions for axisymmetric outflows from strongly magnetized, rotating compact objects. We generalize previous work by…
We present numerical simulations of cold, axisymmetric, magnetically driven relativistic outflows. The outflows are initially sub-Alfv\'enic and Poynting flux-dominated, with total--to--rest-mass energy flux ratio up to $\mu \sim 620$. To…
(Abridged): We study the collision of magnetized irregularities (shells) in relativistic outflows in order to explain the origin of the generic phenomenology observed in the non-thermal emission of both blazars and gamma-ray bursts. We…
We solve the Riemann problem for the deceleration of an arbitrarily magnetized relativistic flow injected into a static unmagnetized medium in one dimension. We find that for the same initial Lorentz factor, the reverse shock becomes…
The interaction of relativistic magnetized ejecta with an ambient medium is studied for a range of structures and magnetization of the unshocked ejecta. We particularly focus on the effect of the ambient medium on the dynamics of an…
The afterglow emission from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is usually interpreted as synchrotron radiation from electrons accelerated at the GRB external shock, that propagates with relativistic velocities into the magnetized interstellar medium.…
The efficiency of particle acceleration at shock waves in relativistic, magnetized astrophysical outflows is a debated topic with far-reaching implications. Here, for the first time, we study the impact of turbulence in the pre-shock…
There are observational indications that relativistic outflows in AGNs are accelerated over distances that far exceed the scale of the central engine. Examples include the radio galaxy NGC 6251, where knots in the radio jets were inferred…
Particle acceleration at magnetized purely perpendicular relativistic shocks in electron-ion plasmas are studied by means of two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. Magnetized shocks with the upstream bulk Lorentz factor $\gamma_1 \gg…
A stationary self-consistent outflow of a magnetised relativistic plasma from a rotating object with an initially monopole-like magnetic field is investigated in the ideal MHD approximation under the condition $\sigma/U_0^2 >1$, where…
We present exact radially self-similar solutions of special-relativistic magnetohydrodynamics representing ``hot'' super-Alfvenic outflows from strongly magnetized, rotating compact objects. We argue that such outflows can plausibly arise…
Relativistic jets associated with long/soft gamma-ray bursts are formed and initially propagate in the interior of the progenitor star. Because of the subsequent loss of their external pressure support after they cross the stellar surface,…
This paper presents numerical simulations of test particle Fermi acceleration at relativistic shocks of Lorentz factor Gamma_sh = 2-60, using a realistic downstream magnetic structure obtained from the shock jump conditions. The upstream…
We consider dynamical scales in magnetized GRB outflows, using the solutions to the Riemann problem of expanding arbitrarily magnetized outflows (Lyutikov 2010). For high ejecta magnetization, the behavior of the forward shock closely…
Observations by the {\RHESSI} satellite of large polarization of the prompt $\gamma$-ray emission from the Gamma Ray Burst GRB021206 \citep{coburn03} imply that the magnetic field coherence scale is larger than the size of the visible…
In the paradigm of magnetic acceleration of relativistic outflows, a crucial point is identifying a viable mechanism to convert the Poynting flux into the kinetic energy of the plasma, and eventually into the observed radiation. Since the…