Publication date: Oct 2011
Abstract:
Astrophysical fluids may acquire nonzero electrical charge because of
strong irradiation or charge separation in a magnetic field. In this
case, electromagnetic and gravitational forces may act together and
produce new equilibrium configurations, which are different from the
uncharged ones. Following our previous studies of charged test particles
and uncharged perfect fluid tori encircling compact objects, we
introduce here a simple test model of a charged perfect fluid torus in
strong gravitational and electromagnetic fields. In contrast to ideal
magnetohydrodynamic models, we consider here the opposite limit of
negligible conductivity, where the charges are tied completely to the
moving matter. This is an extreme limiting case which can provide a
useful reference against which to compare subsequent more complicated
astrophysically motivated calculations. To clearly demonstrate the
features of our model, we construct three-dimensional axisymmetric
charged toroidal configurations around Reissner-Nordström black
holes and compare them with equivalent configurations of electrically
neutral tori.
Authors:
Kovář, Jiří; Slaný, Petr; Stuchlík, Zdeněk; Karas, Vladimír; Cremaschini, Claudio; Miller, John C.;