Consistent Blandford-Znajek expansion

The Blandford-Znajek mechanism is the continuous extraction of energy from a rotating black hole via plasma currents flowing on magnetic field lines threading the horizon. In the discovery paper, Blandford and Znajek demonstrated the mechanism by solving the equations of force-free electrodynamics i...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of cosmology and astroparticle physics 2020-04, Vol.2020 (4), p.9-9
Main Authors: Armas, Jay, Cai, Yangyang, Compère, Geoffrey, Garfinkle, David, Gralla, Samuel E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asymptotic methods
Asymptotic series
Configurations
Electrodynamics
Magnetic fields
Monopoles
Perturbation methods
Plasma currents
Rotating plasmas
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The Blandford-Znajek mechanism is the continuous extraction of energy from a rotating black hole via plasma currents flowing on magnetic field lines threading the horizon. In the discovery paper, Blandford and Znajek demonstrated the mechanism by solving the equations of force-free electrodynamics in a perturbative expansion valid at small black hole spin. Attempts to extend this perturbation analysis to higher order have encountered inconsistencies. We overcome this problem using the method of matched asymptotic expansions, taking care to resolve all of the singular surfaces (light surfaces) in the problem. Working with the monopole field configuration, we show explicitly how the inconsistencies are resolved in this framework and calculate the field configuration to one order higher than previously known. However, there is no correction to the energy extraction rate at this order. These results confirm the basic consistency of the split monopole at small spin and lay a foundation for further perturbative studies of the Blandford-Znajek mechanism.
ISSN:1475-7516
1475-7516
DOI:10.1088/1475-7516/2020/04/009