Energy Extraction via Magnetic Reconnection in a Rotating Black Hole

POSTER

Abstract

Relativistic reconnection is a very efficient mechanism of magnetic energy conversion and particle acceleration, thus a primary candidate to explain nonthermal emissions from pulsar wind nebulae, gamma-ray bursts, and active galactic nuclei. Recent studies have shown magnetic reconnection as a viable mechanism for energy extraction in Kerr and Kerr-de Sitter black holes. Here, we build the mathematical framework to extend the relativistic magnetohydrodynamics of general relativity to matter in negatively curved spacetime. In particular, we highlight the effects of the cosmological constant (Λ) and its role in energy extraction via magnetic reconnection. We examine the analytical results of the efficiency of the energy extracted via magnetic reconnection.

*The 2024 SAO REU program was funded by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory with additional support from the National Science Foundation REU program under Award AST-2050813.

Presenters

  • Jose Pineda

    • California State University, Long Beach

Authors

  • Jose Pineda

    • California State University, Long Beach
  • Raid M Suleiman

    • Harvard - Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics