Comprehensive study of magnetic field evolution in relativistic jets based on 2D simulations

Abstract

We use two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations to investigate the generation and evolution of the magnetic field associated with the propagation of a jet for various initial conditions. We demonstrate that, in general, the magnetic field is initially grown by the Weibel and Mushroom instabilities. However, the field is saturated by the Alfvén current limit. For initially non-magnetized plasma, we show that the growth of the magnetic field is delayed when the matter density of the jet environment is lower, which are in agreement with simple analytical predictions. We show that the higher Lorentz factor (≳2) prevents rapid growth of the magnetic fields. When the initial field is toroidal, the position of the magnetic filaments moves away from the jet as the field strength increases. The axial initial field helps the jet maintain its shape more effectively than the toroidal initial field.