Alignment of Magnetized Accretion Disks and Relativistic Jets with Spinning Black Holes

2); (2) University of Maryland at College Park; (3) Center for Theoretical Science; Alexander Tchekhovskoy (3); Cosmology; Dept. of Physics; Jadwin Hall; Joint Space-Science Institute; Jonathan C. McKinney (1; Princeton Center for Theoretical Science Fellow)

Alignment of Magnetized Accretion Disks and Relativistic Jets with Spinning Black Holes

Not yet reviewed by Pith; the record is open.

Re-run · record.json Download PDF Read on arXiv ↗

This paper has not been read by Pith yet. Machine review is queued; the pith claim, tier, and objections will appear here once it completes.

SPECIMEN: schema-true, not a live event

T0 review · schema-true

One-sentence machine reading of the paper's core claim.

pith:XXXXXXXX · record.json · timestamp

arxiv 1211.3651 v1 pith:NJP5ABET submitted 2012-11-15 astro-ph.CO astro-ph.HEgr-qc

Alignment of Magnetized Accretion Disks and Relativistic Jets with Spinning Black Holes

Jonathan C. McKinney (1 , 2) , Alexander Tchekhovskoy (3) , Roger D. Blandford (1) ((1) Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics , Cosmology , Stanford University , (2) University of Maryland at College Park , Dept. of Physics

show 5 more authors

Joint Space-Science Institute (3) Center for Theoretical Science Jadwin Hall Princeton University Princeton Center for Theoretical Science Fellow)

This is my paper

classification astro-ph.CO astro-ph.HEgr-qc

keywords spindisksjetsrelativisticaccretingalignalignmentblack

verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal T4 reserved

0 comments

read the original abstract

Accreting black holes (BHs) produce intense radiation and powerful relativistic jets, which are affected by the BH's spin magnitude and direction. While thin disks might align with the BH spin axis via the Bardeen-Petterson effect, this does not apply to jet systems with thick disks. We used fully three-dimensional general relativistic magnetohydrodynamical simulations to study accreting BHs with various BH spin vectors and disk thicknesses with magnetic flux reaching saturation. Our simulations reveal a "magneto-spin alignment" mechanism that causes magnetized disks and jets to align with the BH spin near BHs and further away to reorient with the outer disk. This mechanism has implications for the evolution of BH mass and spin, BH feedback on host galaxies, and resolved BH images for SgrA* and M87.

discussion (0)

Forward citations

Cited by 3 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score.

Reshaping the inner shadow of a Kerr black hole by a torn accretion disk
gr-qc 2026-04 conditional novelty 6.0

Torn accretion disks around Kerr black holes erode the inner shadow and create bifurcated, crescent, and multi-ring shadow features driven by sub-disk discontinuities and outer tilt angle.
A 0.03 Hz Radio Quasi-periodic Oscillation During the 2025 Flare of GRS 1915+105
astro-ph.HE 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 4.0

A recurring 0.03 Hz radio QPO was detected in the 2025 flare of GRS 1915+105 at >5.9 sigma in one epoch, identical across S- and X-bands and prior years, indicating an intrinsic accretion-jet timescale.
Polarization Signatures from GRMHD Simulations of Black Hole Accretion
astro-ph.HE 2026-05 unverdicted novelty 2.0

Polarization signatures from GRMHD simulations of black hole accretion can help probe disk, corona, and jet properties when combined with X-ray polarimetry observations.