True to the model, radiation from the blazar cycled in its spatial orientation (polarization) during the first flare-up, indicating that the plasma in the knot moved circularly. "This is what the jet-formation theorists predicted," Marscher says. "Our observations lift the veil a bit on the mystery of jet formation and, more definitively, tell us where in the jet the outbursts occur."

If they hold up, the results are "very intriguing," says astrophysicist John Hawley of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, who specializes in simulations of accretion disks around black holes. Simulations have shown that plasma jets happen naturally in corkscrew-shaped magnetic fields, he says [see example below: cutaway view of a jet (orange) close to an accreting black hole].

Hawley says that true verification will only come when three-dimensional modeling can confirm that the corkscrew shape does not unwind due to some unexpected effect, adding that if astronomers keep mining for data, "hopefully we'll meet somewhere in the middle."

7 Comments

1. 1. Ajay Shah 12:52 AM 4/28/08

   Hey , I thought that the accretion disk was rotating rapidly too --that would be rotating the field and the jet plasma with it, causing the jets to spiral out .Would be very interesting to know if they do so in opposing directions . Enlighten me anyone ?
   
   --
   Edited by Ajay Shah at 04/27/2008 6:06 PM

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2. 2. Cigarshaped 03:07 PM 4/30/08

   I think we have a fundamental flaw in this theory. It seems that Messrs Marscher, Hawley and co believe that magnetic fields can exist as insular entities. Hence the suggestion of blazars resulting from mag. field lines "like arcs formed by iron filings near a magnet".
   
   We must go back to the laboratory and look at where the majority of magnetic fields exist - not in permanent magnets with iron filings as indicators. No! Electric currents are the originators of most magnetic fields - discovered in the 19th century and essential to modern life to the present day. Every flow of electrons produces perpendicular circular magnetic fields. Ionised gas behaves the same, we all know it is a very good conductor of current, don't we? Kristian Birkeland gave his name to the filamentary behaviour of plasma currents.
   
   So if you spot spiralling magnetic fields in space this MUST indicate the flow of invisible spiralling currents - that's the way nature works! So let's see how the theory needs tweaking to include the true power of the galaxies ie invisible electricity. Who needs invisible 'black holes' when we can DO everything with PLASMA in the lab. The most scalable phenomena in the universe: millimetres to light years, 14 to 27 orders of magnitude.

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3. 3. Goldking 09:18 PM 7/2/08

   i must say that i agree with Cigarshaped fully. The theory seems quite straightforward to me although i'm stil a high school student and i have not grasped all the copncets involved.

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4. 4. colinstar 07:33 AM 2/21/09

   If light cannot escape black holes, how do they emit jets of matter, or is this matter snatched by magnetic fields from the accretion disk before the matter falls beyond the event horizon?

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5. 5. colinstar 08:00 AM 2/21/09

   To quote SNL church lady: nevermind. I see the answer is in Minkel's interview of Blandford.
   http://www.sciam.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=9FC85F47-E26D-F464-F9CB72C248931F27

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6. 6. M.T 02:42 AM 12/12/09

   rwt

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7. 7. M.T 02:43 AM 12/12/09

   fdg

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