The Non-Thermal Exhaust System II. MagneticWinds and Jets

Abstract

Launching of the MHD wind is only the beginning of the nonthermal exhaust outflow. Just as the thermal exhaust is accelerated away from the injection region by pressure gradients, so the MHD wind also is significantly accelerated, and collimated into a jet, beyond the launching region. Furthermore, just as the thermal wind becomes causally disconnected from the engine beyond a critical (sonic) surface, and subsequently expands away freely and supersonically, so the nonthermal exhaust is accelerated through a series of MHD critical and separatrix surfaces, eventually becoming a freely propagating jet flow beyond the final separatrix surface.