Establish whether a brief jet-power increase can produce discrete ejecta

Establish whether a very brief and intense increase in the power of an X-ray binary jet can produce discrete ejecta that propagate to the observed large distances, including the effects of magnetic fields and instabilities across scales from the acceleration zone to the propagating ejecta.

Background

The paper argues that producing discrete ejecta through a catastrophic kink-instability episode is problematic: more powerful jets are predicted to be more stable, instability need not destroy the entire jet, and a discrete boundary may require a particular magnetic-field geometry and pressure balance. It instead suggests that a short, intense increase in jet power may be a more plausible origin.

The feasibility of this alternative remains unresolved because discrete ejecta require very high powers to propagate to their observed distances, while an adequate investigation would need simulations spanning a wide dynamic range from the jet acceleration zone to the distant ejecta. The authors also note that magnetic fields could suppress hydrodynamic instabilities and thereby affect the propagation.