'Magneto-Spin' Effect Near Black Holes (4 of 9) (IMAGE)
Caption
Magneto-spin alignment effect simulation: The black hole spin axis, disk rotational axis, and emergent jet axis are all initially aligned. We instantly tilt the black hole spin by 90 degrees in the middle of the simulation, after which the spinning black hole (at center) reforms the powerful jet (white-blue) along the tilted black hole spin axis. The jet rams into the surrounding accretion disk (infalling hot plasma as white-red near the hole) and causes the disk to align with the black hole spin axis near the black hole. At larger distances from the black hole, the disk finally pushes back on the jet causing the jet to re-align with the outer disk. This image relates to a paper that appeared in the Nov. 16, 2012, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The paper, by Jonathan C. McKinney at Stanford University in Stanford, Calif., and colleagues was titled, "'Magneto-Spin' Effect Near Black Holes."
Credit
Visualizations by Ralf Kaeler (KIPAC) and Jonathan McKinney (UMD)
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