Published October 15, 2011 | Version v1
Journal article

Role of electric charge in shaping equilibrium configurations of fluid tori encircling black holes

  • 1. SISSA and INFN, Via Bonomea 265, I-34136 Trieste, Italy and Department of Physics (Astrophysics), University of Oxford, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH (United Kingdom)
  • 2. SISSA and INFN, Via Bonomea 265, I-34136 Trieste (Italy)
  • 3. Astronomical Institute, Academy of Sciences, Bocni II, CZ-14131 Prague (Czech Republic)
  • 4. Institute of Physics, Faculty of Philosophy and Science, Silesian University in Opava Bezrucovo nam. 13, CZ-74601 Opava (Czech Republic)

Description

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-Nordstroem black holes and compare them with equivalent configurations of electrically neutral tori.

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Physical Review. D, Particles Fields
Journal Volume
84
Journal Issue
8
Journal Page Range
p. 084002-084002.14
ISSN
0556-2821
CODEN
PRVDAQ

Optional Information

Notes
(c) 2011 American Institute of Physics