Relativistic AGN jets I. The delicate interplay between jet structure, cocoon morphology and jet-head propagation

Astrophysical jets reveal strong signs of radial structure. They suggest that the inner region of the jet, the jet spine, consists of a low-density, fast-moving gas, while the outer region of the jet consists of a more dense and slower moving gas, called the jet sheath. Moreover, if jets carry angular momentum, the resultant centrifugal forces lead to a radial stratification. Current observations are not able to fully resolve the radial structure, so little is known about its actual profile. We present three active galactic nuclei jet models in 2.5D of which two have been given a radial structure. The first model is a homogeneous jet, the only model that does not carry angular momentum; the second model is a spine-sheath jet with an isothermal equation of state; and the third jet model is a (piecewise) isochoric spine-sheath jet, with constant but different densities for jet spine and jet sheath. In this paper, we look at the effects of radial stratification on jet integrity, mixing between the different jet components and global morphology of the jet-head and surrounding cocoon. We consider steady jets that have been active for 23 Myr. All jets have developed the same number of strong internal shocks along their jet axis at the final time of simulation. These shocks arise when vortices are being shed by the jet-head. We find that all three jets maintain their stability all the way up to the jet-head. The isothermal jet maintains part of its structural integrity at the jet-head where the distinction between jet spine and jet sheath material can still be made. In this case, mixing between jet spine and jet sheath within the jet is fairly inefficient. The isochoric jet, on the other hand, loses its structural jet integrity fairly quickly after the jet is injected. At its jet-head, little structure is maintained and the central part of the jet predominantly consists of jet sheath material. In this case, jet spine and jet sheath material mix efficiently within the jet. We find that the propagation speed for all three models is less than expected from simple theoretical predictions. We propose this is due to an enlarged cross-section of the jet which impacts with the ambient medium. We show that in these models, the effective surface area is 16 times as large in the case of the homogeneous jet, 30 times as large in the case of the isochoric jet and can be up to 40 times as large in the case of the isothermal jet.