Jet launching theory and the vertical structure of a magnetically - dominated thin accretion disc

The presence of an imposed external magnetic field may drastically influence the structure of thin accretion discs. The magnetic field energy is here assumed to be in balance with the thermal energy of the accretion flow. The vertical magnetic field, its toroidal component B tor at the disc surface (due to different rotation rates between disc and its magnetosphere), the turbulent magnetic Prandtl number and the viscosity-alpha are the key parameters of our model. Inside the corotation radius for rather small B tor the resulting inclination angle i of the magnetic field lines to the disc surface normal can exceed the critical value 30 • (required to launch cold jets) even for small magnetic Prandtl numbers of order unity. The self-consistent consideration of both magnetic field and accretion flow demonstrates a weak dependence of the inclination (" dragging ") angle on the magnetic Prandtl number for given surface density but a strong dependence on the toroidal field component at the disc surface. A magnetic disc is thicker than a nonmagnetic one for typical parameter values. The accretion rate can be strongly amplified by large B tor and small magnetic Prandtl number. On the other hand, for given accretion rate the magnetised disc is less massive than the standard-alpha disc. The surface values of the toroidal magnetic fields which are necessary to induce considerably high values for the inclination angle are much smaller than expected and are of order 10 −3 of the imposed vertical field. As the innermost part of the disc produces the largest B tor , the largest radial inclination can be expected also there. The idea is therefore supported that the cold jets are launched only in the central disc area.