Preprint typeset using LATEX style emulateapj v. 08/22/09 ACCELERATION AND COLLIMATION OF RELATIVISTIC MHD DISK WINDS

We perform axisymmetric relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations to investigate the acceleration and collimation of jets and outflows from disks around compact objects. Newtonian gravity is added to the relativistic treatment in order to establish the physical boundary condition of an underlying accretion disk in centrifugal and pressure equilibrium. The fiducial disk surface (respectively a slow disk wind) is prescribed as boundary condition for the outflow. We apply this technique for the first time in the context of relativistic jets. The strength of this approach is that it allows us to run a parameter study in order to investigate how the accretion disk conditions govern the outflow formation. Substantial effort has been made to implement a current-free, numerical outflow boundary condition in order to avoid artificial collimation present in the standard outflow conditions. Our simulations using the PLUTO code run for 500 inner disk rotations and on a physical grid size of 100x200 inner disk radii. The simulations evolve from an initial state in hydrostatic equilibrium and an initially force-free magnetic field configuration. Two options for the initial field geometries are applied- a hourglass-shaped potential magnetic field and a split monopole field. Most of our parameter runs evolve into a steady state solution which can be further analyzed concerning the physical mechanism at work. In general, we obtain collimated beams of mildly relativistic speed with Lorentz factors up to