CHINESE JOURNAL OF PHYSICS

VOL. 30, NO. 5

OCTOBER 1992

A Brief Expedition to Relativistic Astrophysicst

Tzihong Chiueh
Institute ofAstronomy, and Department of Physics, National Central University, Clung-Li, Taiwan 320, R.O.C. (Received February 29,1992; revised manuscript received August 4,1992)

Three distinct astrophysical phenomena-Extragalactic radio jets, Pulsar winds and Gammaray bursters-and their related issues, which represent a fair sample of the mainstream investigations of Relativistic Astrophysics, are described. Solutions, which are by no means complete, to these issues, are also given, in an attempt to illustrate the complexity inherent to the natures of these phenomena.

I. BACKGROUNDS Detection of the relatively-low-flux X-ray and gamma ray radiation and the fine-structured radio emission from the sky is only available in the past decade or so. As many contiguous discoveries of little events accumulate, it has gradually enabled us to sketch a new picture for the heavenly body, which would otherwise be beyond imagination perhaps only two or three decades ago. This new picture emerges as a result of various signitures derived from a wide range of energy scales. Here, I shall concentrate on the astronomical phenomena of energy scale about GeV and somewhat beyond. As most matters in the Universe are hydrogen, this particular energy scale marks the dividing line at which Relativity becomes important, and as too many astronomical phenomena potentially lie within this regime, I shall further confine myself to only three topics described in the Abstract. Let us begin with a description of some observations that inspire the theories to follow. I-l. Mega-Lightyear Jets in Radio Galaxies12 Radio galaxies are believed to be luminous due to the presence of a population of gigaelectron-volt relativistic electrons which emit synchrotron radiation, in an environment which contains a magnetic field of typical strength about few microgausses. No matter whether the radio galaxies are located at a sizable comoslogical red-shift, i.e., radio-loud Active Galactic Nuclei or located nearby, they often contain elongated structures, extending over megalightyears
Refereed version of the invited paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Physical Society of R.O.C., January 24-25, 1992. 603 01992 THE PHYSICAL SOCIETY OF THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA

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long, which are often called jets.1j5,3 Although there has not been any direct evidence (doppler shifts) to show that the jets are really moving, images of moving bright blobs,4 nevertheless, render a convincing argument, the so-called relativistic beaming, to support that the jets are indeed moving at a relativistic speed. In some circumstances, the jets seem to collide with external high-density gases and deflect in such a way that the overall coherency of the trajectories remains intact. What is it so powerful that the outflows are driven this vigorously to travel at a relativistic speed, and what is it so coherent that the outflows are driven in such well-defined trajectories? These are two ultimate questions astronomer will ask upon observing these spectacular phenomena. On incorporating the fact that magnetic fields must exist to permit the sychrotron radiation, we come to an interesting resolution that the magnetic field may participate the flow acceleration. -The relativistic jets are driven by rotating magnetic fields, with one end of the field line anchored onto the rotating disk? Like an elastic band, the rotational energy of the disk is extracted by the field lines in the form of Poynting flux, which manifests itself as wrapping of the magnetic field lines and an almost radial electric field caused by charge separation. The Poynting flux can eventually be partially converted into the outflow kinetic energy. Intuitively, one has no problem in conceiving a resolution as such. The real issue lies actually in how to prove that this model does self-consistently exist. That is, can one really prove this idea by exactly solving for such a physical configuration mathematically.3 This is a difficult mathematical problem indeed, when considering the fact that it is a nonlinear problem and also multi-dimensional in nature.6 To take a less ambitious approach, we may as well ask whether one can construct a specific example to demonstrate that such a physical situation does exist. We will be doing so later. I-2. Pulsar in the Crab Nebula Pulsars are neutron stars with strong surface magnetic fields, so strong that it almost reaches the maximally allowed strength at which electron-positron pairs can be created from the vaccum by the quantum electrodynamic effect. The neutron star surface field reaches as high as one tenth of the critical field strength - 1Ol gauss. The strong magnetic fields have the merits that even a moderate movement of the field line can, by ways of electromagnetic induction, generate a huge electric field, whereby the electron-positron pairs are thus created from the vaccum. It is therefore believed that the pulsar magnetosphere is filled with, if nothing else, an electron-positron-pair plasma. Of course, in the presence of interstellar medium, supernova remnant, or even materials extracted from the surface of the star by the huge electric field, the pulsar magnetosphere can not be completely devoid of ions, which may mostly be protons. The pulsar magnetosphere is thus filled with electrons, positrons and protons. What is it so special about such kind of mixture? This is an issue to be addressed in the next section. Here, we shall focus on another aspect - what the strong field would do besides creating a plasma of electrons

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and positrons. Surely, that a pulsar is to be a pulsar requires it to emit an intense light beam periodically. The light beam results from the sychrotron radiation by fast moving electron or positron beams travelling outward along the curved magnetic field lines. Is it that the energy output of a pulsar resides all in the forms of particle beams and light beams ? Not so. Surrounding the pulsar, the Crab Nebula, which is the best understood supernova remnant, lights up in all wavebands, ranging from radio waves to X-ray, with a power output 103* erg/set or so. There must exist an invisible and yet immense output of energy from the pulsar to feed these lights. This energy output is much greater than that of the particle beams, not to mention the periodic light beams. It is now believed that the major energy output from the pulsar is in the form of the electromagnetic energy of extremely low frequency waves (Alfven waves), and this electromagnetic energy is gradually converted into the kinetic energy of the plasma as it reaches the inner boundary of the Crab Remnants. The mixture of electromagnetic and kinetic energies are further converted into the thermal energy of the plasma so as to yield the observed synchrontron radiation. In fact, the following evidence demands that almost all the original electromagnetic energy has to be converted into the flow kinetic energy by the time the coherent energy is dissipated into heat. The output energy is estimated to release, at a distance about 30 lightyears from the central star, into the supernova remnant and lights up the remnant. A shock is expected to exist at that location for attaining such a high efficiency in dissipating the coherent energy. It is now believed that this is a standing shock, much the same as the earth bow shock. As the total power output of the remnant amounts to 1O38 erg/set and the average expansion speed of the remnant is about 2000 km/set, together with the fact that the synchrotron X-ray is extraordinarily luminous, these informations allow us to estimate the preshock physical conditions, such as the electromagnetic and kinetic energies and the flow speed, etc.911o711 It turns out that the standing shock must be not only of highly relativistic, but also of very high Mach number, in order to produce so powerful X-ray emission. For the flow to be highly relativistic, it needs very strong magnetic fields to start with. Since the neutron star has a plentiful supply of magnetic field, the first requirement is relatively easy to satisfy. But, for the flow to be of high Mach number it is a rather nontrivial matter. It requires that most of the energy should be in the form of kinetic energy immediately before the flow collides onto the shock. How a magnetized flow can, from a electromagneticallydominant regime near the neutron star, get to a kinetically-dominant regime is a controversial issue. A seemingly plausible model has recently been put forward. This model relies on magnetic reconnection as a means to rid the flow of the magnetic field and mcanwhilc to acccleratc the flow by the enhanced thermal pressure due to dissipation. I2 In order to create a situation
where magnetic fields reverse directions at a short distance, the model demands that the rotational axis and the magnetic axis to be misaligned by a finite angle. The larger this angle is the

more the fields are prone to reconnection. The misaligned angle rcquircd for this model to work turns out to bc as large as SO degrees, which is a rather unrealistic physical configuration for

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the pulsar. Later, I will propose another resolution that works more natually than this reconnection model. I-3. Energy Ikansport During Gamma-Ray Bursts Intermittent bursts of gamma ray, of average power 1O38 erg/set and lasting for from 0.01 to 1000 seconds, have, in the recent decade, been detected from all directions in the sky.13 Unfortunately, the distance of the source is a quantity difficult to determine presently. The energy spectrum of the bursting radiation consists of a continuum and a few lines. These features provide most evidence in revealing what the gamma-ray bursts should be. From the luminosity ratio of the X-ray to the gamma ray, it is found that the continuum is emitted by a population of nonthermal high-energy electrons, with a high energy tail in the distribution function. As to the line spectrum, it generally consists of an emission line at 450 keV (on the average) and of absorption lines at about 20 and 40 keV The high energy emission line can be interpreted as the es - e + annihilation line, gravitationally red-shifted by the strong surface gravity of a neutron star (z = 0.1). The lower energy absorption lines are thought to be the fundamental and first harmonic of the cyclotron absorption lines by the strong surface magnetic field (lOI gauss) of a neutron star. Accepting the neutron-star model as far as the current status of the gamma-ray bursters stands, we are, however, facing several fundamental problems in regard to the source of energy, the transport of energy, etc. For the the former, two competing models stand out: the nuclear flash at the poles, much the same as the more firmly established model of the X-ray bursts, I3 and the starquake, 14,lS which either occurs during the slowing down of the neutron star caused by its strained crust, or occurs when the equation of state in the stellar core suddenly changes and the core shrinks. For the problem of energy transport, it has been calculated that the optical thickness of a 1012 gauss magnetic field is so great for a (>)lO MeV photon that the photon can never realistically escape the magnetosphere to be observed.16 With the (>)lO MeV photons indeed being abundantly detected during most bursts, the collective energy of the star is now thought to be released to individual electrons, by which the high-energy photons are produced, not at the immediate neighborhood of the star but at a considerable distance away. There must be a mechanism to transport the energy outward, across the surface magnetic field in a dissipationless fashion. Furthermore, the rise time of the 10 MeV photons is rather short (few seconds),17 implying that the acceleration and radiation processes are rapid and thus are unlikely diffusive processes. This amounts to another factor that supports the following model involving solitons. As mentioned earlier, the neutron star magnetosphere consists dominantly of an electronpositron plasma, mixed with a small population of protons. Later, we will describe how such a plasma can give rise to solitons, which not only contain bunches of magnetic field but also carry a strong electric fields.18?19 Like a battery, the positive and negative charges are spatially separated within the soliton, and the electric potential so built up can reach, and in some cir-

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cumstances exceed, a value as high as 1 gigavolt. The solitons, which are able to travel across the magnetic field, are, in our model, the ones responsible for carrying the needed energy outward to deposit onto the observed high-energy photons at a considerable distance from the neutron star.

II. ANALYSES
Hereafter, we will separately present the analyses for the above three subjects in a relatively concise manner, in a hope to give the readers a flavor of what are involved. The detailed calculations have been published elsewhere, and the interested readers are advised to consult the original papers.
II-l. Relativistic Jets in Extragalactic Radio Sources

It is wellknown in the stellar wind literature that relevant magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations can be grouped together to yield two conservation laws - conservation of specific energy and conservation of specific angular momentum along each poloidal field line - and a property that the flow must be moving along the field line in the rotating frame. The former can be derived by a consideration of the force component aloltg the poloidal field line. The latter is a result of the frozen-in condition of the magnetic field in a perfect conductor. These two conservation equations can further be combined to yield the so-called wind equation, 021 which permits a convenient analysis of the critical conditions when the flow speed coincides with local wave speeds. Such an analysis allows us to fix a particular set of constants among the infinitely many choices, analogous to the eigenvalue analysis of a linear differential equation. An actual analysis requires one to know the shape of the poloidal field line, and this in turns requires one to solve the force balance equation UC~OSS of the field lines. Unlike the force balance along the field line, the perpendicular direction has no conservative form and thus is not integrable, as is along the field. Therefore this part of the analysis constitutes most difficulties of the problem since a nonlinear partial differential equation is to be solved. Conventionally, researchers in this field by-pass this difficulty by assuming a given shape of the field line, hoping that such simplified analyses can still capture the essence of the problem. This hope is now knotin to fail, and one must face the challenge of solving the real problem. Nonetheless, certain simplifying steps can still be taken before one actually takes up the full-blown problem with brute force. Hereafter, we will first look into the asymptotic structure of the field line at locations infinitely far away from the disk, onto which the field lines anchor. As a follow-up pursue, I will give a specific construction of the solution to this horrendous nonlinear problem.
(1) Collimation of the Outtlows 20

If we trace a poloidal field line, the coordinate of its trajectory can be described by (R, Z), where R is the radius in the cylindrical coordinate. In the ideal MHD, the flow must be along

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the field line in the rotating frame, (V$ - RS2)IVp = B$/BP, where Q is the angular velocity and the subscriptsp and $ stand for the poloidal and azimuthal components. Hence collimation of the flow is equivalent to that of the poloidal field line. What I mean by the collimation is expressed mathematically as lim

( Z-) - 0
&R2 .- \
lc2
2

(1)

To prove that the flow is collimated asymptotically, we begin by constructing a wind equation for a relativistic MHD flow, which reads2

I --- I--_
c2 c2 43-p

R2R2

c=

=1+($)2+(j$

j2 I* L

ERR2 l-,r,
I

(2)

&L$-qj

where E, 1 and k are respectively the specific energy, specific angular momentum and the ratio of the mass flux to the magnetic flux, all of which are constant along each field line, andp is the mass density. Let us consider the opposite situation to what we want to prove, namely, the situation where lim

( R->

-- 0,

for which the field lines fan out. From a simple geometric consideration, it follows that the poloidal magnetic field, or more precisely the poloidal magnetic flux density, BP must approach the limit B$? + ~0 as R + ~0. Since R, E, I and k are constants, this behavior of BP implies that at R + ~0 Eq. (2) can not be satisfied. That is to say that no such a flow can exist. So far, we have not yet proved that the field lines collimate (i.e. Eq. (l)), since there is another case to consider, The remaining case to be ruled out is when the ratio of R to 2 approaches a finite value, and the field line asymptotically spans the surface of a straight cone. This is what we call the conical field. The type of field line turns out to have a difficulty in filling up the polar region with magnetic fields. This is because such a configuration requires an infinite magnetic pressure gradient near the pole to maintain the force balance. As the gas pressure is vanishingly weak far away from the disk due to adiabatic expansion, the magnetic Geld must take up all the pressure. It needs infinitely many field lines in the polar region, so many that the total current at

._

.:

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the pole becomes infinitely large, viz. a unphysical situation. The proof of this statement involves a consideration of the cross-field force balance, and we will not go into the details here. Having ruled out the possibility of an asymptotic conical field, we come to the conclusion that each field line must collimate along the axis of rotation at a large distance from the rotating source. In fact, we can further classify the collimated field into two sub-categories, one enclosing no net electrical current and the other a finite current, and this finding has a profound implication to the pulsar wind, which will be elaborated in (11-2). (2) Self-Similar Jed We will make a self-similarity assumption for the shape of the field lines, so as to reduce the complexity of the problem in hand. This self-similarity can be obtained from a straightforward dimensional analysis. When we ignore the gravity, the only dimensional constant in the problem is the speed of light, c. Therefore any combination of physical quantities which has a dimension of velocity must have the same scaling, which, in this case, is independent of the field lines. As we insist that the dependence of all physical quantities on the field line is in the form of power law pa, for quantities of dimension of the velocity, we have a = 0. With this understanding, all physical quantities satisfy the following dependence:

R=z&(f-)',

2=

z(x)$($y,
R =

B = (b&>>b&))
k=

~,(-f--, k,($)1-2p, p a(@J2-4p,

x2

(-$-$-,

where x and q are the two new coordinates, and ry is called the (poloidal) flux function, related to the poloidal magnetic field by B, = f$ x V$,

(4)

/3 is a constant, and quantities with subscripts 0 stand for those quantities at a reference field line. The new variable x is the normalized R. Using this construction, one finds that the magnetic field can be expressed as bp = where i stands for dz/&. Other quantities, such as a(x) and b+, can both be expressed in terms of x, z and i. Our ultimate goal at this point is reduced to solving for the function z(x), which now is described by an ordinary differential equation.

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The differential equation is not only nonlinear but also singular at a resonant point, where the Alfven wave speed at certain projected angle coincides the flow speed in the.poloidal direction. This differential equation generally has the form:

=
where

..

N(z, *, i, T)
D( 2, z, i, T)

(6)

Dr (l-(1+r)z2)[b$+bpZ(1-(l+r)t)

+ (~)(~;+b;(l-z2))],

(7)

and r E (~o~c~/~Ec~Q~)~(x). The singularity arises when D = 0 or more precisely 1 - (1 + r)? = 0, and for a physically valid, smooth solution to exist we must demand that N = 0 at the singular point. The is nontrivial and certain quantities at the boundary where the field line just anchors onto the disk must adjust themselves to ensure a smooth solution at the resonant point. *Physically, we can explain this requirement as follows. At the resonant point, any slight perturbation can be amplified to a sizable level. The perturbation can not travel forward with the flow as the flow at this location is super-Alfvenic and the wave can not catch up with it. But, the flow can travel backward into the sub-Alfvenic region. If the base of the flow has inappropriate boundary conditions, a smooth steady state configuration is impossible and the enhanced perturbations at the resonant point can travel back to the base to correct it, in such a fashion that N = 0. To signify the need of this dynamical self-regulation, the steady-state solution yields a unphysical singularity at the resonant point when the flow-base boundary condition is inappropriately imposed. After the numerical integration of the nonlinear differential equation, we have found the following conclusions: (i) The value of p is restricted within the range between l/2 and 1 for a smooth flow to exist. (ii) The asymptotic shape of a poloidal field line approaches a cylinder; the closer p is to 1, the larger the radius of the cylinder is compared with that of the light cylinder (c/$&J. (iii) The value of the specific energy/l is numerical determined to be 2a in the regime when u > > 1, where 0 E S&/4nc3ko, measuring the ratio of the Poynting flux to the kinetic energy flux near the flow base. An empirical formula for the terminal Lorentz factor can also be determined:
y-u

( 2-L > P

(8)

when cr > > 1. This formula indicates that the smaller p is, the smaller the kinetic energy output is. WhenP takes the maximal value 1, the kinetic energy is in equipartition with the electromag-

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netic energy. To sum up this section, I shall present the actual solution of poloidal field and current density distributions (Fig. 1) in the region of acceleration where the field lines has yet not reached the asymptotic configuration. The solid lines are poloidal field lines and dotted lines the current-density lines. 11-2. Pulsar Winds in the Crab Nebula As I have elaborated earlier, the Crab pulsar wind needs to be kinetically dominant at a distance 30 light years from the star. However, the self-similar jet in the previous section shows that the kinetic energy can at most be in equipartition with the electromagnetic energy. What is missing here? An asymptotically cylindrical configuration is not the only collimated configuration allowed in the Nature. In fact, we have shown that the collimated jet can be divided into two categories.* one for which the return poloidal current that shields out the confining toroidal magnetic field (B#) is so strong that the total electric current enclosed by any flux surface approaches zero and the confinement of the flow is barely lost, and the other for which the opposite holds and there is a net electric current in the flow. The former has field lines fanning out very rapidly, and therefore the electromagnetic energy becomes so little that almost all energy resides in the form of the kinetic energy asymptotically. However, the latter has more tightly confined

FIG. 1. The self-similar configurations of the poloidal field lines (solid line), and the poloidal current density
(dotted lines) in the region near the flow base. The length scale is arbitary.

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fields. The choice of one or the other actually depends on the environments. If there exists an abundance of externa1 ambient medium outside the outermost field line, then the tight configuration will be chosen, and if there is only little ambient medium, the oppositeis true. Having a cylindrical asymptotic configuration, the self-similar jet described above belongs to the tightlyconfined category. We believe that in the formation phase of the pulsar wind, all the ambient gases were blown away before a steady state sets in and therefore the field lines chobse the fanout configuration. The proof of the two categories requires an examination of the cross-field force balance.17 The key of the proof lies in whether the net current should diminish to zero asymptotically along each field line. If so, there exists little confining force for the flow and the flow thus fans out rapidly. This very property yields the ratio of the electromagnetic part to the kinetic part to be vanishing small. Our proof of the two categories leads naturally to an explanation as to why the Crab pulsar wind should be what it is,22 without invokihg magnetic reconnection of the tilted-rotor modella which seems rather unlikely in requiring a tilted angle as large as, say, 80 degree. 11-3. Relativistic Solitons in Gamma-Ray Bursts The following analysis has an application to the energy transport problem of gamma-ray bursters. To fii the idea, let us examine what parameter regime we are concerning with regard to this particular application. Since the width of the soliton is of order the cyclotron radius of a proton at a speed c, with a magnetic field of order 1Ol2 gauss, it follows that this length scale is of order 10 cm, much smaller than then typical length of the neutron star lo6 cm. We thus consider the following scenario: during a starquake event (the assumed energy source), the star shakes abruptly and the mechanical energy is subsequently deposited into the magnetic field surrounding the star due to the pressing of the stellar surface. For definitiveness of this model we consider only the disturbances of the field lines across the equatorial plane. The field lines are instantly compressed and rarified to send out compressional waves, which are expected to settle into a collection of plane solitons with various strengths. We have not worked out the statistical mechanics of these solitons, as this is a delicate and difficult problem. We will, as a first step, confine ourselves to understanding the fundamental properties of each individual soliton, and show that these general properties are consistent with the requirements for the gamma-ray bursters. The plasma in the neutron star magnetosphere consists mainly of electrons and positrons, as well as a minority of protons. Even though the number density of the em - e+ pairs must well exceed that of the protons, the mass density likely does not. We here assume that the protons dominate the mass density in the neutron star magnetosphere. Such a plasma behaves similar to the normal e- -1~ + plasma, except with some minor modifications from the e- - e pairs.

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in the previous sections, we will skip most of the algebra and only outline the key steps in obtaining the results. In the reference frame where the soliton is at rest and the background fluid flows at a relativistic speed, the normalized excess proton density AJZ satisfies the equation: 19

As done

( >

dhn 2 - +&(An,~cm,w%) de

=o

(9)

where t is the normalized distance along the flow direction, which is perpendicular to the magnetic field, and ym, yt and MF, are parameters, representing the Lorentz factor of the flow speed, that of the thermal speed and the magnetosonic Mach number (which is greater than unity) of the soliton, respectively. Q is a highly nonlinear function of &t. This equation can be solved by an analogy to an one-dimensional particle-dynamics problem, for which Q is analogous to the potential and is called the Sagdeev potential. The peculiar feature of Q, as a function of AIZ, is that Q can be expressed as

where Ajzu usually has a finite value. When AJ~ = 0, we have both Q = 0 and d&ldAn = 0. The solution can be a single-hump soliton. However, it is possible to have a situation where hrl reaches A.nu before F(An) changes the sign, and thus CYt encounters a singularity. There must exist sets of parameters (yoo, yt, MF), for which as soon as F(&z) changes the sign Alt reaches ~ZO, and we call it the critical condition. Beyond the critical parameters, the soliton has to break up. It is found that the general tendancy of these parameters at the critical condition is such that the greater y oo or yI is, the Srdkr kfF is. Since the quantity that most interests us is the electric potential drop between the peak and the tail of the soliton. We find that the potential drop is Y~~ yt/12 gigavolt when both y co and yt are large, and is 1 gigavolt when yco is large but yt = 1 (i.e., a cold plasma). (As a side remark, it is interesting to note that when MF is slightly above unity, the enhancement of the soliton density is small, and it is in this limit the soliton has a profile identical to the soliton of the KdV equation. l9 It is conjestured that with appropriate small-amplitude reductions the system can be described by a KdV equation.) The physical picture that we envision during a gamma-ray burst is that as the crust shakes and compresses the surface magnetic field, a wide range of fluctuations are excited, some of which form solitons. The solitons steepen as they propagate outward, into a medium of lower Alfven speed to become of higher Mach number. At some point in the neutron star magnetosphere, the soliton reaches the critical Mach number and it breaks up, heating the background electrons thereby emitting the high-energy gamma-ray. (For this model to hold, we must assume that the squared surface magnetic field drops off more rapidly than the plasma density near a

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neutron star.) To put this scenario into a quantitative perspective, we can estimate both the energy scale per electron and the total energy output carried by the solitons. For the former, the energy scale in question is on the order of 1 GeV, and through Compton scattering of the electrons off the low-energy photons, the observed (>)lO MeV photons can be comfortably and abundantly created. For the latter, the observation shows that the total energy of a typical gamma-;ay burst is on the order of 10% - 104 erg/set. The rate of energy carried by a collection of solitons, which occupy a volume filling factor& can be as high as 1O48 ycD3 fv erg/set. That is, a moderate value of the Lorentz factor and a volume filling factor as low asf,, - 1O1o can easily account for the energetic requirement of a gamma-ray burster. That is, we require only few tens of solitons in the entire magnetosphere at any given time to carry the energy equivalent to the total luminosity of the y-ray burst. As only a small portion of the total y-ray photons are beyond 10 MeV, in fact we even only need few solitons in the magnetosphere at any given time to solve this high-energy-photon problem. We have by no means come out with a complete model for the gamma-ray burster yet. The details of this model remain to be worked out to compare with observations. With the recent launch of the Gamma-Ray-Observatory satellite, more details of the gamma-ray bursters can be mapped out in the next few years. As the door to the highly resolved gamma-ray observations is now opened, this model and other competing models will have to face critical challenges and to strive to survive. Before the verdict is announced, defenders for their potential suspects will be constantly living in anxiety with their hearts suspended. And, it is such heart-throbbing suspense that gives Astrophysics a great deal of fun to pursue. ACKNOWLEDGMENT This work is supported by the grants from the National Science Council of the Republic of China: NSC80-0208-M-008-39, NSC80-E-sp-008-02 and NSC81-0208-M-008-513. REFERENCES 1. A. H. Bridle and R. A. Perley, Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys., 22,319 (1984). 2. M. C. Begelman, R. D. Blandford, and M. J. Rees, Rev. Mod. Phys., 56,255 (1984). 3. T. Chiueh, Disks and Jets: Implicatiom forAGNmodels, in Relatiomllip Between Active Galactic Nuclei alzd Star-burst Galavies, ed. A.V. Filippenko and K. Y. Lo, As&on. Sot. Pac. (1992). 4. J. A. Zenus and T. J. Pearson, ed. Szprlunlirlaf Radio Sources, Cambridge University Press (1987). 5. Z-Y. Li, T. Chiueh, and M. C. Begelman, Ap. J., 394,459 (1992). 6. R.V.E. Lovelace, C. Mehanian, C. M. Mobarry, and M. E. Sulkanen, Ap. J. S., 62, 1 (19S6). 7. P. Goldreich and W. H. Julian, Ap. J., 157, 869 (1969).

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8. M. J. Rees and J. E. Gunn, Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Sot., 167, 1 (1974). 9. C. F. Kennel and F. V. Coroniti, Ap. J., 283,654 (1984). 10. C. F. Kennel and F. V. Coroniti, Ap. J., 283,710 (1984). 11. R. T. Emmering and R. A. Chevalier, Ap. J., 321,334 (1987). 12. R. V. Coroniti, Ap. J., 349,538 (1990). 13. S. E. Woosley, ed. High-Energy Transients in Astrophysics, AIP, New York (1984). 14. F. Pacini and M. Ruderman, Nature, 251,399 (1974). 15. R. Ramaty, S. Bonazzola, T. C. Cline, D. Kaznas, P. Meszaros, and R. E. Lingenfelter, Nature, 287,122 (1980). 16. E. P. Liang and V. Petrosian, ed. Gamma-Ray Bursts, AIP, New York (1986). 17. C. Barat, in Positron-Electron Pairs in Astrophysics ed. M. L. Burns, A. K. Harding, and R. Ramaty, AIP, New York (1983). 18. T. Chiueh, Phys. Rev. Lett., 63,116 (1989). 19. T. Chiueh and T-C Lai, Phys. Rev. A, 44,6944 (1991). 20. T. Chiueh, Z-Y Li, and M. C. Begelman, Ap. J. 377,377 (1991). 21. M. Camenzind, inAccretion Disks and Magnetic Fields in Astrophysics, ed. G. Belvedere, p. 129, (Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1989). 22. T. Chiueh, Proc. Astron. Sot. Australia, 9, 137 (1991).