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Jets and their surroundings: Inevitable dissipation in high‐redshift jets
Author(s) -
de Young D.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
astronomische nachrichten
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.394
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1521-3994
pISSN - 0004-6337
DOI - 10.1002/asna.200510513
Subject(s) - physics , jet (fluid) , dissipation , supersonic speed , dissipative system , mixing (physics) , magnetohydrodynamics , mechanics , turbulence , redshift , astrophysics , astrophysical jet , momentum (technical analysis) , classical mechanics , plasma , thermodynamics , nuclear physics , active galactic nucleus , finance , quantum mechanics , galaxy , economics
As jets pass through the ambient medium, dissipation of jet energy and momentum can occur due to interaction with this medium. This dissipation is mediated through the non‐linear development of global surface instabilities that create a turbulent mixing layer which resides initially on the surface of the jet. This layer expands in thickness with time, and in many cases it can permeate the entire jet volume, resulting in a fully mixed and turbulent jet. It is shown that the development of such dissipative mixing layers is inevitable for all classes of jet: subsonic, supersonic, relativistic, and MHD jets. The growth rates of the mixing layers are given, and it is shown that the development of this dissipative process increases rapidly with increasing redshift of the jets. Implications for highly collimated jets and the unsolved problem of jet content are discussed. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)