We suggest the existence of two BLRs in 3C 390.3 which have different locations. The BLR1 is located at a distance in accordance to the hydrogen line time lags of ≈20 days. This disk-like region emits predominantly low ionization lines. The BLR2 forms around the radio-jet and is located at the distance corresponding to time lags of ≈ 40-80 days. The BLR2 is responsible for most of the emission in UV lines. The Lα line partly forms in BLR2 (40-60%) and partly in BLR1.

The coming years will see routine use of solar data of unprecedented spatial and spectral resolution, time cadence, and completeness in the wavelength domain. To capitalize on the soon to be available radio facilities such as the expanded OVSA, SSRT and FASR, and the challenges they present in the visualization and synthesis of the multi-frequency datasets, we propose that realistic, sophisticated 3D active region and flare modeling is timely now and will be a forefront of coronal studies over the coming years. Here we summarize our 3D modeling efforts, aimed at forward fitting of imaging spectroscopy data, and describe currently available 3D modeling tools. We also discuss plans for future generalization of our modeling tools.

We have investigated the development of current-driven (CD) kink instability in relativistic jets via 3D RMHD simulations. In this investigation a static force-free equilibrium helical magnetic field configuration is considered in order to study the influence of the initial configuration on the linear and nonlinear evolution of the instability. We found that the initial configuration is strongly distorted but not disrupted by the CD kink instability. The linear growth and nonlinear evolution of the CD kink instability depends moderately on the radial density profile and strongly on the magnetic pitch profile. Kink amplitude growth in the nonlinear regime for decreasing magnetic pitch leads to a slender helically twisted column wrapped by magnetic field. On the other hand, kink amplitude growth in the nonlinear regime nearly ceases for increasing magnetic pitch.

Gyrosynchrotron (GS) emission of charged particles spiraling in magnetic fields plays an exceptionally important role in astrophysics. In particular, this mechanism makes a dominant contribution to the continuum solar and stellar radio emissions. However, the available exact equations describing the emission process are extremely slow computationally, thus limiting the diagnostic capabilities of radio observations. In this work, we present approximate GS codes capable of fast calculating the emission from anisotropic electron distributions. The computation time is reduced by several orders of magnitude compared with the exact formulae, while the computation error remains within a few percent. The codes are implemented as the executable modules callable from IDL; they are made available for users via web sites.

Multiwavelength observations are the key to understand conditions of jet formation in Galactic black hole transient (GBHT) systems. By studying radio and optical-infrared evolution of such systems during outburst decays, the compact jet formation can be traced. Comparing this with X-ray spectral and timing evolution we can obtain physical and geometrical conditions for jet formation, and study the contribution of jets to X-ray emission.

In this work, first X-ray evolution - jet relation for XTE J1752-223 will be discussed. This source had very good coverage in X-rays, optical, infrared and radio. A long exposure with INTEGRAL also allowed us to study gamma-ray behavior after the jet turns on. We will also show results from the analysis of data from GX 339-4 in the hard state with SUZAKU at low flux levels. The fits to iron line fluorescence emission show that the inner disk radius increases by a factor of >27 with respect to radii in bright states. This result, along with other disk radius measurements in the hard state will be discussed within the context of conditions for launching and sustaining jets.

High-energy emission from blazars is thought to arise in a relativistic jet launched by a supermassive black hole. The rapid variability of the emission suggests that structure of length scale smaller than the gravitational radius of the central black hole is imprinted on the jet as it is launched, and modulates the radiation released after it has been accelerated to high Lorentz factor. We describe a mechanism which can account for the acceleration of the jet, and for the rapid variability of the radiation, based on the propagation characteristics of nonlinear waves in charge-starved, polar jets. These exhibit a delayed acceleration phase, that kicks-in when the inertia associated with the wave currents becomes important. The time structure imprinted on the jet at launch modulates the photons produced by the accelerating jet provided that the electromagnetic cascade in the black-hole magnetosphere is not prolific.

We report results of our European VLBI Network observations towards M 87 jet at 1.6 GHz in order to study the velocity field. We revealed continuous jet up to 500 mas from the core and HST-1 component. We have not detected any proper motion for the components within first 160 mas from the core and significant superluminal motions from 2.5 to 3.5 c for the HST-1 components. Those are in good agreement with previous observations. We derived proper motions for the components about 160 to 500 mas from the core. Interestingly, the measured proper motions are faster than that of the inner components and slower than that of HST-1 components. It may suggest the possible acceleration region for superluminal features of M 87 jet.

Pulsars are rotating neutron stars with strong magnetic dipole fields (B = 104 − 109T), and high induced surface potentials (ca. 1014V). A strong charged particle current is driven out of the polar cap. It returns along an equatorial current sheet. The total dissipated power of the current system is a significant fraction of the observed spin-down power of the pulsar. The Pierce instability occurs when particles are constrained to move in only one dimension and the field from the accumulated space charge exceeds the accelerating background field. Relativistic particle motion enhances the instability which forms narrow regions (cm) of high particle densities and low velocities separated by much longer but more tenuous relativistic flows. The calculated spectrum, power budget and time scales of the magnetospheric Pierce instabilities match the observed radio properties of pulsars.

We present here and overview of the results of a systematic search of Type-I X-ray bursts in the light curves of the transient, atoll system 4U 1608–522 as seen by JEMX onboard INTEGRAL.

The matter content of relativistic jets in AGNs is dominated by a mixture of protons, electrons, and positrons. During dissipative events these particles tap a significant portion of the internal and/or kinetic energy of the jet and convert it into electromagnetic radiation. While leptons – even those with only mildly relativistic energies – can radiate efficiently, protons need to be accelerated up to energies exceeding 1016–19 eV to dissipate radiatively a significant amount of energy via either trigerring pair cascades or direct synchrotron emission. Here I review various constraints imposed on the role of hadronic non-adiabatic cooling processes in shaping the high energy spectra of blazars. It will be argued that protons, despite being efficiently accelerated and presumably playing a crucial role in jet dynamics and dissipation of the jet kinetic energy to the internal energy of electrons and positrons, are more likely to remain radiatively passive in AGN jets.

The accretion/ejection coupling in accreting black hole binaries has been described by empirical relations between the X-ray/radio and X-ray/optical-infrared luminosities. These correlations were initially supposed to be universal. However, recently many sources have been found to produce jets that, given certain accretion-powered luminosities, are fainter than expected from the correlations. This shows that black holes with similar accretion flows can produce a broad range of outflows in power Here we discuss whether typical parameters of the binary system, as well as the properties of the outburst, produce any effect on the energy output in the jet. We also define a jet-toy model in which the bulk Lorentz factor becomes larger than ~1 above ~0.1% of the Eddington luminosity. We finally compare the “radio quiet” black holes with the neutron stars.

We present recent developments of global galactic-scale numerical models of the Cosmic Ray (CR) driven dynamo, which was originally proposed by Parker (1992). We conduct a series of direct CR+MHD numerical simulations of the dynamics of the interstellar medium (ISM), composed of gas, magnetic fields and CR components. We take into account CRs accelerated in randomly distributed supernova (SN) remnants, and assume that SNe deposit small-scale, randomly oriented, dipolar magnetic fields into the ISM. The amplification timescale of the large-scale magnetic field resulting from the CR-driven dynamo is comparable to the galactic rotation period. The process efficiently converts small-scale magnetic fields of SN-remnants into galactic-scale magnetic fields. The resulting magnetic field structure resembles the X-shaped magnetic fields observed in edge-on galaxies.

The consistency is awesome between over a dozen observations and the paradigm of radio lobes being immense sources of magnetic energy, flux, and relativistic electrons, – a magnetized universe.

The greater the total energy of an astrophysical phenomenon, the more restricted are the possible explanations. Magnetic energy is the most challenging because its origin is still considered problematic. We suggest that it is evident that the universe is magnetized because of radio lobes, ultra relativistic electrons, Faraday rotation measures, the polarized emission of extra galactic radio structures, the x-rays from relativistic electrons Comptonized on the CMB, and possibly extra galactic cosmic rays. The implied energies are so large that only the formation of supermassive black hole, (SMBH) at the center of every galaxy is remotely energetic enough to supply this immense energy, ~(1/10) 108M⊙c2 per galaxy. Only a galaxy cluster of 1000 galaxies has comparable energy, but it is inversely, (to the number of galaxies), rare per galaxy. Yet this energy appears to be shared between magnetic fields and accelerated relativistic particles, both electrons and ions. Only a large-scale coherent dynamo generating poloidal flux within the accretion disk forming the massive black hole makes a reasonable starting point. The subsequent winding of this dynamo-derived magnetic flux by conducting, angular momentum-dominated accreting matter, (~1011 turns near the event horizon in 108 years) produces the immense, coherent magnetic jets or total flux of radio lobes and similarly in star formation. By extending this same physics to supernova-neutron star formation, we predict that similar differential winding of the flux that couples explosion ejecta and a newly formed, rapidly rotating neutron star will produce similar phenomena of a magnetic jet and lobes in the forming supernova nebula. In all cases the conversion of force-free magnetic energy into accelerated ions and electrons is a major challenge.

The interaction of (strong) shock waves with localized density changes is of particular relevance to laboratory as well as astrophysical research. Shock tubes have been intensively studied in the lab for decades and much has been learned about shocks impinging on sudden density contrasts. In astrophysics, modern observations vividly demonstrate how (even relativistic) winds or jets show complex refraction patterns as they encounter denser interstellar material.

In this contribution, we highlight recent insights into shock refraction patterns, starting from classical up to relativistic hydro and extended to magnetohydrodynamic scenarios. Combining analytical predictions for shock refraction patterns exploiting Riemann solver methodologies, we confront numerical, analytical and (historic) laboratory insights. Using parallel, grid-adaptive simulations, we demonstrate the fate of Richtmyer-Meshkov instabilities when going from gaseous to magnetized plasma scenarios. The simulations invoke idealized configurations closely resembling lab analogues, while extending them to relativistic flow regimes.

Based on the three-fluid approximation the influence of the neutral component of hydrogen plasma on Joule dissipation of electric currents are considered. As distinguished from Mestel & Spitzer (1956) and Parker (1963) it has been shown that the magnetic flux may be not conserved in the case of the “ambipolar diffusion” due to collisions between ions and neutrals. This is explained by the ion acceleration under the action of Ampere's force. Joule dissipation is determined by electron and ion collisions in a partially ionized plasma. Plasma evacuation from current sheets is the effective mechanism of its cooling. Thickness of a current sheet can achieve up to hundreds of kilometers in the solar chromosphere. The origin of the solar chromospheric jets observed with the Hinode satellite are discussed.

The nonlinear dynamics of the outflow driven by magnetic explosion on the surface of compact object is investigated through special relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations. We adopt, as an initial equilibrium state, a spherical stellar object embedded in the hydrostatic plasma which has a density ρ(r) ∝ r−α and is threaded by a dipole magnetic field. The injection of magnetic energy at the surface of compact star breaks the dynamical equilibrium and triggers two-component outflow. At the early evolutionary stage, the magnetic pressure increases rapidly in time around the stellar surface, initiating a magnetically driven outflow. Then it excites a strong forward shock, shock driven outflow. The expansion velocity of the magnetically driven outflow is characterized by the Alfvén velocity on the stellar surface, and follows a simple scaling relation υmag ∝ υA1/2. When the initial density profile declines steeply with radius, the strong shock is accelerated self-similarly to relativistic velocity ahead of the magnetically driven component. We find that the evolution of the strong forward shock can be described by a self-similar relation Γsh ∝ rsh, where Γsh is the Lorentz factor of the plasma measured at the shock surface rsh. It should be stressed that the pure hydrodynamic process is responsible for the acceleration of the shock driven outflow. Our two-component outflow model, which is the natural outcome of the magnetic explosion, would deepen the understanding of the magnetic active phenomena on various magnetized stellar objects.

In order to study the properties of faint, moderate and bright flares, we simulate the conditions of the solar atmosphere using a radiative hydrodynamic model (Abbett & Hawley, 1999). A constant beam of non-thermal electrons is injected at the apex of a 1D coronal loop and heating from thermal soft X-ray emission is included. We compare the results with some observational data in Ly-α (using TRACE 1216 and 1600 Å data and estimating the “pure” Ly-α emission) and in Hα (data taken with a Multichannel Flare Spectrograph, at the Ondrejov Observatory).

We study kinetics of plasma particles on internal inhomogeneities and on the boundary of astrophysical jets in the presence of intensive low-frequency electromagnetic (surface and bulk waves). These waves with energy density exceeding or of the same order as the particle kinetic energy density can be generated due to the non-equilibrium state of plasma and lead to the jet stratification at various scales. The main reason is a ponderomotive force which is able to change dramatically the particle behavior, the plasma density cross-section profile and the wave collimation. We present results obtained on the basis of our simple ponderomotive model of the self-consistent analysis of the electromagnetic wave propagation and the formation of the plasma density profile.

Alfven/acoustic waves are ubiquitous in astrophysical as well as in laboratory plasmas. Their interplay with energetic ions is of crucial importance to understanding the energy and particle exchange in astrophysical plasmas as well as to obtaining a viable energy source in magnetically confined fusion devices. In magnetically confined fusion plasmas, an experimental phase-space characterisation of convective and diffusive energetic particle losses induced by Alfven/acoustic waves allows for a better understanding of the underlying physics. The relevance of these results in the problem of the anomalous heating of the solar corona is checked by MHD simulations of Tokamak-like Solar flare tubes.