Jet formation in the magnetospheres of supermassive black holes: Analytic solutions describing energy loss through Blandford-Znajek processes

Abstract

In this paper, we provide exact solutions for the extraction of energy from a rotating black hole via both the electromagnetic Poynting flux and matter currents. By appropriate choice of a radially independent poloidal function Λ(θ), we find solutions where the dominant outward energy flux is along the polar axis, consistent not only with a jet-like collimated outflow, but also with a weaker flux of energy along the equatorial plane. Unlike previously obtained solutions, the magnetosphere is free of magnetic monopoles everywhere. © 2011 The Authors. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society © 2011 RAS.