We present time-dependent, numerical simulations of the magnetocentrifugal
model for jet formation, in an axisymmetric geometry, using a modification
of the ZEUS3D code adapted to parallel computers. The gas is supposed cold
with negligible thermal pressure throughout. The number of boundary conditi
ons imposed on the disk surface is that necessary and sufficient to take in
to account information propagating upstream from the fast and Alfven critic
al surfaces, avoiding overdetermination of the flow and unphysical effects,
such as numerical "boundary layers" that otherwise isolate the disk from t
he flow and produce impulsive accelerations.
It is known that open magnetic field lines can either trap or propel the ga
s, depending upon the inclination angle, theta, of the poloidal field to th
e disk normal. This inclination is free to adjust, changing from trapping t
o propelling when theta is larger than theta(c) similar to 30 degrees, howe
ver, the ejected mass flux is imposed in these simulations as a function of
the radius alone. As there is a region, near the origin, where the inclina
tion of field lines to the axis is too small to drive a centrifugal wind, w
e inject a thin, axial jet, expected to form electromagnetically near black
holes in active galactic nuclei and Galactic superluminal sources.
Rapid acceleration and collimation of the flow is generally observed when t
he disk field configuration is propelling. We parameterize our runs using a
magnetic flux Psi proportional to R-e Psi and mass flux j = rho nu(z) prop
ortional to R-ej. We show in detail the steady state of a reference run wit
h parameters e(Psi) = -1/2, e(j) = 3/2, finding that the wind leaves the co
mputational volume in the axial direction with an Alfven number M-A similar
to 4, poloidal speed nu(p) similar to 1.6 nu(K0), collimated inside an ang
le theta similar to 11 degrees. We show also the thrust T, energy L, torque
G, and mass discharge (M) over dot of the outgoing wind, and we illustrate
the dependence of these quantities with the exponents e(Psi) and e(j).