Invited Presentation

Magnetic Kink Instability, Dissipation, and Fanaroff-Riley Dichotomy of AGN Jets

Author(s): Alexander Tchekhovskoy (UC Berkeley), Omer Bromberg (Hebrew University)

Presenter: Alexander Tchekhovskoy (UC Berkeley / via Skype)

Despite decades of research, there is no agreement on the physical processes responsible for jet internal dissipation and variable high energy emission in M87 and other galaxies. On larger scales, it is unclear what processes control the large-scale AGN jet morphology and lead to the so-called Fanaroff-Riley (FR) jet dichotomy. In this talk, I will present the results of global simulations of relativistic magnetized jets. I will show that a 3D magnetic kink instability can naturally occur in AGN jets and lead to both the internal dissipation and the FR dichotomy in the jets.