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Originally published in Science Express on 24 January 2002
Science 1 March 2002:
Vol. 295. no. 5560, pp. 1688 - 1691
DOI: 10.1126/science.1068240
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Reports

Extraction of Black Hole Rotational Energy by a Magnetic Field and the Formation of Relativistic Jets

Shinji Koide,1 Kazunari Shibata,2 Takahiro Kudoh,3 David L. Meier4

Using numerical simulations, we modeled the general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic behavior of a plasma flowing into a rapidly rotating black hole in a large-scale magnetic field. The results show that a torsional Alfvén wave is generated by the rotational dragging of space near the black hole. The wave transports energy along the magnetic field lines outward, causing the total energy of the plasma near the hole to decrease to negative values. When this negative energy plasma enters the horizon, the rotational energy of the black hole decreases. Through this process, the energy of the spinning black hole is extracted magnetically

1 Faculty of Engineering, Toyama University, 3190 Gofuku, Toyama 930-8555, Japan.
2 Kwasan and Hida Observatory, Kyoto University, Yamashina, Kyoto, 607-8471, Japan.
3 National Astronomical Observatory, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan.
4 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Simulations of Jets Driven by Black Hole Rotation.
V. Semenov, S. Dyadechkin, and B. Punsly (2004)
Science 305, 978-980
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