Synchrotron polarization signatures of surface waves in supermassive black hole jets

Understand

Supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei (AGN) are known to launch relativistic jets, which are observed across the entire electromagnetic spectrum and are thought to be efficient particle accelerators.

• Their primary radiation mechanism for radio emission is polarized synchrotron emission produced by a population of non-thermal electrons.
• In this Letter, we present a global general relativistic magnetohydrodynamical (GRMHD) simulation of a magnetically arrested disk (MAD).
• After the simulation reaches the MAD state, we show that waves are continuously launched from the vicinity of the black hole and propagate along the interface between the jet and the wind.