MODELING JET INTERACTIONS WITH THE AMBIENT MEDIUM

Abstract

Recent high-resolution (see, e.g., [13]) observations of astrophysical jets reveal complex structures apparently caused by ejecta from the central engine as the ejecta interact with the surrounding interstellar material. These observations include time-lapsed “movies” of both AGN and microquasars jets which also show that the jet phenomena are highly time-dependent. Such observations can be used to inform models of the jet–ambient-medium interactions. Based on an analysis of these data, we posit that a significant part of the observed phenomena come from the interaction of the ejecta with prior ejecta as well as interstellar material. In this view, astrophysical jets interact with the ambient medium through which they propagate, entraining and accelerating it. We show some elements of the modeling of these jets in this paper, including energy loss and heating via plasma processes, and large scale hydrodynamic and relativistic hydrodynamic simulations.