Abstract

We review recent progress in the theory of jet production, with particular emphasis on the possibility of 1) powerful jets being produced in the first few seconds after collapse of a supernova core and 2) those jets being responsible for the asymmetric explosion itself. The presently favored jet-production mechanism is an electrodynamic one, in which charged plasma is accelerated by electric fields that are generated by a rotating magnetic field anchored in the protopulsar. Recent observations of Galactic jet sources provide important clues to how all such sources may be related, both in the physical mechanism that drives the jet and in the astrophysical mechanisms that create conditions conducive to jet formation. We propose a grand evolutionary scheme that attempts to unify these sources on this basis, with MHD supernovae providing the missing link. We also discuss several important issues that must be resolved before this (or another scheme) can be adopted.

Introduction: a cosmic zoo of galactic jet sources

The last few decades have seen the discovery of a large number of different types of Galactic sources that produce jets. The purpose of this talk is to show that all of these jets sources are related, in both a physical sense and an astrophysical sense. Furthermore, Craig Wheeler's idea that most core collapse supernovae (SNe) are driven by MHD jets from a protopulsar provides the missing link in an attractive unified scheme of all stellar jet sources.