Multifrequency simultaneous VLBA view of the radio source 3C 111

Abstract

Relativistic jets originating at the center of AGN are embedded in extreme environments with strong magnetic fields and high particle densities, which makes them a fundamental tool for studying the physics of magnetized plasmas. We aim to investigate the magnetic field structure and the pc/sub-pc properties of the relativistic jet in the radio galaxy 3C111. Rotation Measure (RM) studies of nearby radio galaxies, such as this one, provide a valuable tool to investigate transversal magnetic field properties of the synchrotron emission. We model the brightness distribution of the source with multiple 2D Gaussian components to characterize individual emission features. After determining the core shift, we compute the spectral index maps for all the frequency pairs and find different distributions for the core region and the jet with an unusual optically thick/flat feature at 1-2 pc from the core. Using modelfit, we find a total of 56 components at different frequencies. By putting constraints on the size and position, we identify 22 components at different frequencies for which we compute the equipartition magnetic field. We compute the RM at two different triplets of frequencies. At 15.2-21.9-43.8 GHz, we discover high values of RM in the same region where the optically thick/flat feature was found. This can be associated with high electron density at 1-2 pc from the core that we interpreted as originating in a cloud of the clumpy torus. At 5-8.4-15.2 GHz, we find a distribution of the EVPAs and significant RM transverse gradient that provide strong evidence of a helical configuration of the magnetic field, as found in simulations.