Reinhold Preiner

Astrophysical jets emanating from different systems are one of the most spectacular and enigmatic phenomena pervading the Universe. These jets are typically bipolar and span hundreds of thousands of light years, some even longer than the diameter of our Milky Way. The study of the disc–jet systems is motivated by the observed correlation between ejection and accretion signatures and is still under debate. It was shown in our previous work the crucial role of thermal conduction in the dynamics of a thin viscous resistive accretion disc orbiting a central object and was provided an unprecedented wealth of discussion that has advanced our understanding of the inflow process. In this work, we expand our exploration by addressing the most outstanding basic questions concerning the launching, acceleration, and collimation processes of the jet in presence of thermal conduction. We also tackle in depth-analysis the effects of this physical ingredient on the time evolution of temperature and on mass fluxes such as inflow and outflow rates. We performed a series of 2.5-dimensional non-relativistic time-dependent numerical calculations of a disc–jet system using the PLUTO code. Our results revealed compelling evidence that thermal conduction contributes to launching a faster and more collimated jet. The mass extracted from the disc via the outflow channel is also affected by the presence of thermal conduction in the sense that the ejection efficiency is significantly improved.