Is the disc thermal state controlling the Blandford & Znajek/Blandford & Payne jet dichotomy?

UJF-Grenoble 1/CNRS-INSU, Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG) UMR 5274, Grenoble, F-38041, France

^a e-mail: Jonathan.Ferreira@obs.ujf-grenoble.fr

Published online: 9 December 2013

Abstract

It is generally assumed that Blandford & Payne jets can carry a significant fraction of the accretion power released in the underlying disc. But this fraction actually strongly depends on the disc aspect ratio h/r, hence on the disc thermal properties. In fact, Jet Emitting discs (JEDs) cannot power BP-like jets if they are thicker than h/r ≃ 0.2. On the other hand, the power of Blandford & Znajek jets depends mostly on the magnitude of the vertical magnetic field B_z. If this magnetic field is dragged in by the accretion flow, then its magnitude depends also on the disc aspect ratio and the BZ jet maximum power is achieved with Magnetically Arrested Discs (MADs).

If the innermost disc regions are geometrically thin or slim, they are in a JED state with both BP and BZ jets launched. It is shown that the BZ jet acts only as a highly relativistic and shinning spine, carrying a tiny fraction of the overall jet power. If the innermost disc regions are geometrically thick, they are in a MAD state where only BZ jets are allowed. We expect quite di↵erent jet morphologies in the two cases.