Synthetic Images of Magnetospheric Reconnection-Powered Radiation around Supermassive Black Holes.

Accreting supermassive black holes can now be observed at the event-horizon scale at millimeter wavelengths. Current predictions for the image rely on hypotheses (fluid modeling, thermal electrons) which might not always hold in the vicinity of the black hole, so that a full kinetic treatment is in order. In this Letter, we describe the first 3D global general-relativistic particle-in-cell simulation of a black-hole magnetosphere.

Multidimensional Simulations of Ergospheric Pair Discharges around Black Holes.

Black holes are known to launch powerful relativistic jets and emit highly variable gamma radiation. How these jets are loaded with plasma remains poorly understood. Spark gaps are thought to drive particle acceleration and pair creation in the black-hole magnetosphere.

First-Principles Plasma Simulations of Black-Hole Jet Launching.

Black holes drive powerful plasma jets to relativistic velocities. This plasma should be collisionless, and self-consistently supplied by pair creation near the horizon. We present general-relativistic collisionless plasma simulations of Kerr-black-hole magnetospheres which begin from vacuum, inject e^{±} pairs based on local unscreened electric fields, and reach steady states with electromagnetically powered Blandford-Znajek jets and persistent current sheets.