arXiv subjects

M. Kadler

Publications and source records attributed to M. Kadler.

229 records · Page 13Linked to original sources

arXiv2004

Millimetre-VLBI Monitoring of AGN with Sub-milliarcsecond Resolution

Global millimetre VLBI allows detailed studies of the most central jet regions of AGN with unprecedent spatial resolution of a few 100-1000 Schwartzschild radii to be made. Study of these regions will help to answer the question how the highly relativistic AGN jets are launched and collimated. Since the early 1990s, bright mm-sources have been observed with global 3 mm VLBI. Here we present new images from an ongoing systematic analysis of the available observations. In particular, we focus on the structure and structural evolution of the best observed AGN jets, taking 3C 454.3 as a characteristic example. This core-dominated and highly variable quasar shows a complex morphology with individual jet components accelerating superluminally towards the outer structure. We briefly discuss the X-ray properties of 3C 454.3 and present its radio- to X-ray large-scale brightness distribution.

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arXiv2004

Spectral Properties of the Core and the VLBI-Jets of Cygnus A

We present a detailed VLBI study of the spectral properties of the inner core region of the radio galaxy Cygnus A at 5 GHz, 15 GHz, 22 GHz, 43 GHz and 86 GHz. Our observations include an epoch using phase-referencing at 15 GHz and 22 GHz and the first successful VLBI observations of Cygnus A at 86 GHz. We find a pronounced two-sided jet structure, with a steep spectrum along the jet and an inverted spectrum towards the counter-jet. The inverted spectrum and the frequency-dependent jet-to-counter-jet ratio suggest that the inner counter-jet is covered by a circum-nuclear absorber as it is proposed by the unified scheme.

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arXiv2004

Combined VLBI- and X-ray Observations of Active Galactic Nuclei

Compact radio cores in radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are classical targets of Very-Long-Baseline interferometric (VLBI) research. Until today little has been known about their X-ray properties in comparison to radio-quiet AGNs. Here, we present results from a systematic X-ray spectral survey of radio-loud AGNs. This study is based on a statistically complete sample of regularly monitored compact, extragalactic radio jets from the VLBA 2 cm Survey and makes use of high-quality X-ray spectroscopic data from the archives of the X-ray observatories ASCA, BeppoSax, CHANDRA, and XMM-Newton. Combined VLBI and X-ray observations of AGNs can yield direct observational links between the central parsecs of extragalactic jets and dynamical processes within the accretion flows around supermassive black holes. It is essential to establish such links, which might have the power to attack the unsolved problem: "What makes an AGN radio-loud?" We present some early results from our survey project and report briefly on detailed studies of 0716+714, NGC 1052, and 3C 390.3.

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arXiv2004

The Twin--Jet System in NGC 1052: VLBI-Scrutiny of the Obscuring Torus

NGC 1052 offers the possibility to study the obscuring torus around a supermassive black hole, predicted by the standard model of active galactic nuclei, over a wide range of wavelengths from the radio to the X-ray regime. We present a detailed VLBI study of the parsec-scale structure of the ``twin-jet'' system in NGC 1052 in both total and polarized intensity and at multiple frequencies. We report the detection of linearly polarized emission from the base of the eastern jet at 5 GHz. While the radio spectrum in this region might be still consistent with synchrotron self absorption, the highly inverted spectrum of the western jet base represents a clear sign of pronounced free-free absorption in a circumnuclear torus. We observe an abrupt change of the brightness temperature gradient at a distance of $\sim 0.2$ pc to 0.3 pc from the central engine. This might provide an observational signature of the edge of the central torus, where the transition from an external pressure-dominated jet regime to a more or less freely expanding jet takes place. We determine the absorbing column density towards the western jet core to be $\sim 2.2 \times 10^{22}$ cm$^{-2}$ in good agreement with the values derived from various X-ray observations. This suggests that the nuclear X-ray emission and the jet emission imaged by VLBI originate on the same scales.

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arXiv2004

Probes of Jet-Disk-Coupling in AGN from Combined VLBI and X-Ray Observations

The formation of powerful extragalactic jets is not well understood at present as well as the associated key question:``What makes an AGN radio loud?''. Here we discuss how the combination of VLBI and X-ray spectroscopic observations allows the inter-relation between the accretion flow and the formation of relativistic jets in AGN to be explored.

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arXiv2004

Sub-milliarcsecond Imaging of Quasars and Active Galactic Nuclei III. Kinematics of Parsec-Scale Radio Jets

We report the results of a 15 GHz (2 cm) multi-epoch VLBA program, begun in 1994 to study the outflow in radio jets ejected from quasars and active galaxies. The observed flow of 208 distinct features measured in 110 quasars, active galaxies, and BL Lac objects shows highly collimated relativistic motion with apparent transverse velocities typically between zero and about 15c, with a tail extending up to about 34c. Within individual jets, different features appear to move with a similar characteristic velocity which may represent an underlying continuous jet flow, but we also see some stationary and even apparently inward moving features which co-exist with the main features. Comparison of our observations with published data at other wavelengths suggests that there is a systematic decrease in apparent velocity with increasing wavelength, probably because the observations at different wavelengths sample different parts of the jet structure. The observed distribution of linear velocities is not consistent with any simple ballistic model. Either there is a rather broad range of Lorentz factors, a significant difference between the velocity of the bulk relativistic flow and the pattern speed of underlying shocks, or a combination of these options. Assuming a ballistic flow, comparison of observed apparent velocities and Doppler factors computed from the time scale of flux density variations is consistent with a steep power law distribution of intrinsic Lorentz factors, an isotropic distribution of orientations of the parent population, and intrinsic brightness temperatures about an order of magnitude below the canonical inverse Compton limit. It appears that the parent population of radio jets is not dominated by highly relativistic flows (abridged).

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arXiv2004

Jet emission in NGC1052 at radio, optical, and X-ray frequencies

We present a combined radio, optical, and X-ray study of the nearby LINER galaxy NGC 1052. Data from a short (2.3 ksec) {\it CHANDRA} observation of NGC 1052 reveal the presence of various jet-related X-ray emitting regions, a bright compact core and unresolved knots in the jet structure as well as an extended emitting region inside the galaxy well aligned with the radio synchrotron jet-emission. The spectrum of the extended X-ray emission can best be fitted with a thermal model with $kT = (0.4-0.5)$ keV, while the compact core exhibits a very flat spectrum, best approximated by an absorbed power-law with $N_{\rm H} = (0.6-0.8) \times 10^{22} {\rm cm^{-2}}$. We compare the radio structure to an optical ``structure map'' from a {\it Hubble Space Telescope} ({\it HST}) observation and find a good positional correlation between the radio jet and the optical emission cone. Bright, compact knots in the jet structure are visible in all three frequency bands whose spectrum is inconsistent with synchrotron emission.

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arXiv2003

Multi-frequency & Multi-epoch VLBI study of Cygnus A

We present the first multi-frequency phase-referenced observations of Cygnus A done with the VLBA at 15 and 22 GHz. We find a pronounced two-sided jet structure, with a steep spectrum along the jet and a highly inverted spectrum towards the counter-jet. The inverted spectrum and the frequency dependent jet to counter-jet ratio suggest an obscuring torus in front of the counter-jet. From 14 epochs of 15 GHz VLBA data we accurately derive the jet and counter-jet kinematics. For the inner jet (r <= 5 mas) we measure motions of beta_app ~ 0.2-0.5 h^{-1} and on the counter-jet side we find beta_ app ~ 0.03+-0.02 h^{-1}. We discuss the jet velocities within the unified jet model.

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arXiv2003

Jet Collimation in Action: Re-alignment on Kiloparsec Scales in 3C279

We report a change in the trajectory of a well studied jet component of the quasar 3C279. The component changes in apparent projected speed and direction, and we find it to be moving with a Lorentz factor gamma >~ 15 at an initial angle of <~ 1 degree to the line of sight. The new trajectory of the component has approximately the same speed and direction as an earlier superluminal feature, originally seen in the early 1970s. The new direction for the component is also much better aligned with larger scale VLBA and VLA structure out to 0.1 arcseconds. We suggest that the trajectory change is a collimation event occurring at >~ 1 kiloparsec (deprojected) along the jet. While the change in trajectory on the sky appears to be 26 degrees the intrinsic change is <~ 1 degree. We estimate the Doppler factor prior to the change in direction to be D >~ 28 and after the change to be D >~ 23. Comparison to independent constraints on the Doppler factor suggest that the energy in the radiating particles cannot greatly exceed the energy in the magnetic field unless the volume filling factor is very much less than one.

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arXiv2003

The Twin-Jet of NGC1052 at Radio, Optical, and X-ray Frequencies

We present results from a combined radio, optical, and X-ray study of the jet-associated emission features in NGC1052. We analyse the radio-optical morphology and find a good positional correlation between the radio jet and the optical emission cone. Two optical emission knots are directly associated with radio counterparts exhibiting a radio to X-ray broadband spectrum not compatible with synchrotron emission. We discuss the possibility that the thermal soft spectrum of the extended X-ray emission originates from jet driven shocks produced in the interaction between the jet-plasma and its surrounding medium.

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arXiv2002

Kinematics of parsec-scale structures in AGN: the 2cm VLBA Survey

We are investigating the kinematics of jets in active galactic nuclei on parsec scales by studying a representative population of sources. This study is being carried out using the Very Long Baseline Array at 15 GHz, with more than 800 images taken since 1994. In this contribution we present an overview of the diversity of kinematics for a complete sample of sources.

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arXiv2002

Sub-Milliarcsecond Imaging of Quasars and Active Galactic Nuclei. II. Additional Sources

We report further results from our imaging survey at 15GHz (lambda=2 cm) with the Very Long Baseline Array. This paper presents single epoch images for 39 sources, bringing the total number of objects in the sample to 171. Our sample is representative of a complete unbiased sample and it will be used for statistical analysis of source properties. We compare the observed brightness temperatures derived from our VLBA observations to those derived from total intensity variations at 22 and 37 GHz. These are consistent with intrinsic brightness temperatures in the range 10^10 to 10^12 K. We also present three new spectroscopic redshift values: z=0.517+/-0.001 for 0026+346, z=1.591+/-0.003 for 0727-115, and z=0.2016+/-0.0004 for 1155+251. Images from this VLBA 2 cm survey are available on the Internet under http://www.cv.nrao.edu/2cmsurvey.

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arXiv2002

NGC1052 - A study of the pc-scale twin jet

We present results of a VLBA multi-frequency study of the pc-scale twin jet in NGC1052. We observed this object at epoch 1998.99 with the VLBA at 5, 8.4, 22 and 43 GHz both in total and linearly polarized intensity. The spectral analysis confirms the necessity of a free-free absorbing medium, obscuring the innermost part of both jets. At 5 GHz we found a compact linearly polarized emission region at the base of the eastern jet with a degree of polarization of 1.5%. At higher frequencies there is no evidence for polarization in our data. A core shift analysis constrains the position of the central engine to ~0.03 pc. The shift rates of the apparent core position with frequency confirm the strong influence of free-free absorption in conjunction with steep pressure gradients at the bases of both jets.

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