Dominance of outflowing electric currents on decaparsec to kiloparsec scales in extragalactic jets

• Published in: arXiv.org 2016-05
• Main Authors: Christodoulou, Dimitris M, Gabuzda, Denise C, Knuettel, Sebastian, Contopoulos, Ioannis, Kazanas, Demosthenes, Coughlan, Colm P
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accretion disks; Active galactic nuclei; Astronomical models; Batteries; Electric currents; Jets; Magnetic fields; Rotating disks; Rotation; Sheaths; Stellar winds
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1605.08991

Helical magnetic fields embedded in the jets of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are required by the broad range of theoretical models that advocate for electromagnetic launching of the jets. In most models, the direction of the magnetic field is random, but if the axial field is generated by a Cosmic Battery generated by current in the direction of rotation in the accretion disk, there is a correlation between the directions of the spin of the AGN accretion disk and of the axial field, which leads to a specific direction for the axial electric current, azimuthal magnetic field, and the resulting observed transverse Faraday-rotation (FR) gradient across the jet, due to the systematic change in the line-of-sight magnetic field. We consider new observational evidence for the presence of a nested helical magnetic-field structure such as would be brought about by the operation of the Cosmic Battery, and make predictions about the expected behavior of transverse FR gradients observed on decaparsec and kiloparsec scales. The collected results can be understood if the dominant azimuthal field on parsec scales corresponds to an axial electric current flowing inward along the jet, whereas the (weaker) dominant azimuthal field on kiloparsec scales corresponds to a outward-flowing current in the outer sheath of the jet and/or an extended disk wind.