arXiv subjects

Yuri Y. Kovalev

Publications and source records attributed to Yuri Y. Kovalev.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Unravelling the Innermost Jet Structure of OJ 287 with the First GMVA+ALMA Observations

We present the first very-long-baseline interferometric (VLBI) observations of the blazar OJ287 carried out jointly with the Global Millimeter VLBI Array (GMVA) and the phased Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) at 3.5 mm on April 2, 2017. Participation of phased-ALMA not only has improved the GMVA north-south resolution by a factor of ~3, but also has enabled fringe detection with signal-to-noise ratios up to 300 at baselines longer than 2 Gλ. The high sensitivity has motivated us to image the data with the newly developed regularized maximum likelihood imaging methods, revealing the innermost jet structure with unprecedentedly high angular resolution. Our images reveal a compact and twisted jet extending along the northwest direction with two bends within the inner 200 μas that resembles a precessing jet in projection. The component at the southeastern end shows a compact morphology and high brightness temperature, and is identified as the VLBI core. An extended jet feature that lies at ~200 μas northwest of the core shows a conical shape in both total and linearly polarized intensity, and a bimodal distribution of the linear polarization electric vector position angle. We discuss the nature of this feature by comparing our observations with models and simulations of oblique and recollimation shocks with various magnetic field configurations. Our high-fidelity images also enabled us to search for possible jet features from the secondary supermassive black hole (SMBH) and test the SMBH binary hypothesis proposed for this source.

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arXiv2022

The science case and challenges of space-borne sub-millimeter interferometry

Ultra-high angular resolution in astronomy has always been an important vehicle for making fundamental discoveries. Recent results in direct imaging of the vicinity of the supermassive black hole in the nucleus of the radio galaxy M87 by the millimeter VLBI system Event Horizon Telescope and various pioneering results of the Space VLBI mission RadioAstron provided new momentum in high angular resolution astrophysics. In both mentioned cases, the angular resolution reached the values of about 10-20 microrcseconds. Further developments toward at least an order of magnitude "sharper" values are dictated by the needs of astrophysical studies and can only be achieved by placing millimeter and submillimeter wavelength interferometric systems in space. A concept of such the system, called Terahertz Exploration and Zooming-in for Astrophysics (THEZA), has been proposed in the framework of the ESA Call for White Papers for the Voayage 2050 long term plan in 2019. In the current paper we discuss several approaches for addressing technological challenges of the THEZA concept. In particular, we consider a novel configuration of a space-borne millimeter/sub-millimeter antenna which might resolve several bottlenecks in creating large precise mechanical structures. The paper also presents an overview of prospective space-qualified technologies of low-noise analogue front-end instrumentation for millimeter/sub-millimeter telescopes, data handling and processing. The paper briefly discusses approaches to the interferometric baseline state vector determination and synchronisation and heterodyning system. In combination with the original ESA Voyage 2050 White Paper, the current work sharpens the case for the next generation microarcsceond-level imaging instruments and provides starting points for further in-depth technology trade-off studies.

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arXiv2021

Probing the innermost regions of AGN jets and their magnetic fields with RadioAstron. V. Space and ground millimeter-VLBI imaging of OJ 287

We present the first polarimetric space VLBI observations of OJ 287, observed with RadioAstron at 22 GHz during a perigee session on 2014 April 4 and five near-in-time snapshots, together with contemporaneous ground VLBI observations at 15, 43, and 86 GHz. Ground-space fringes were obtained up to a projected baseline of 3.9 Earth diameters during the perigee session, and at a record 15.1 Earth diameters during the snapshot sessions, allowing us to image the innermost jet at an angular resolution of $\sim50μ$as, the highest ever achieved at 22 GHz for OJ 287. Comparison with ground-based VLBI observations reveals a progressive jet bending with increasing angular resolution that agrees with predictions from a supermassive binary black hole model, although other models cannot be ruled out. Spectral analyses suggest that the VLBI core is dominated by the internal energy of the emitting particles during the onset of a multi-wavelength flare, while the parsec-scale jet is consistent with being in equipartition between the particles and magnetic field. Estimated minimum brightness temperatures from the visibility amplitudes show a continued rising trend with projected baseline length up to $10^{13}$ K, reconciled with the inverse Compton limit through Doppler boosting for a jet closely oriented to the line of sight. The observed electric vector position angle suggests that the innermost jet has a predominantly toroidal magnetic field, which together with marginal evidence of a gradient in rotation measure across the jet width indicate that the VLBI core is threaded by a helical magnetic field, in agreement with jet formation models.

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arXiv2021

First Space-VLBI Observations of Sagittarius A*

We report results from the first Earth-space VLBI observations of the Galactic Center supermassive black hole, Sgr A*. These observations used the space telescope Spektr-R of the RadioAstron project together with a global network of 20 ground telescopes, observing at a wavelength of 1.35cm. Spektr-R provided baselines up to 3.9 times the diameter of the Earth, corresponding to an angular resolution of approximately 55 microarcseconds and a spatial resolution of $5.5 R_{\rm Sch}$ at the source, where $R_{\rm Sch} \equiv 2 G M/c^2$ is the Schwarzschild radius of Sgr A*. Our short ground baseline measurements (<80 Mλ) are consistent with an anisotropic Gaussian image, while our intermediate ground baseline measurements (100-250 Mλ) confirm the presence of persistent image substructure in Sgr A*. Both features are consistent with theoretical expectations for strong scattering in the ionized interstellar medium, which produces Gaussian scatter-broadening on short baselines and refractive substructure on long baselines. We do not detect interferometric fringes on any of the longer ground baselines or on any ground-space baselines. While space VLBI offers a promising pathway to sharper angular resolution and the measurement of key gravitational signatures in black holes, such as their photon rings, our results demonstrate that space VLBI studies of Sgr A* will require sensitive observations at submillimeter wavelengths.

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arXiv2020

Parsec-scale properties of steep and flat spectrum extragalactic radio sources from a VLBA survey of a complete north polar cap sample

We observed with the VLBA at 2.3 and 8.6 GHz a complete flux-density limited sample of 482 radio sources with declination >+75 degrees brighter than 200 mJy at 1.4 GHz drawn from the NVSS catalog. 34% of the sources show parsec-scale emission above the flux density detection limit of 30 mJy; their accurate positions and parsec-scale structure parameters are determined. Among all the sources detected at least at the shortest VLBA baselines, the majority, or 72%, has a steep single-dish spectrum. The fraction of the sources with a detectable parsec-scale structure is above 95% among the flat-spectrum and close to 25% among the steep-spectrum objects. We identified 82 compact steep-spectrum source candidates, which make up 17% of the sample; most of them are reported for the first time. The compactness and the brightness temperature of the sources in our sample show a positive correlation with single-dish and VLBA spectral indices. All the sources with a significant 8 GHz variability were detected by the VLBA snapshot observations, which independently confirmed their compactness. We demonstrated that 54% of the sources detected by the VLBA at 2.3 GHz in our sample have a steep VLBA spectrum. The compact radio emission of these sources is likely dominated by optically thin jets or mini-lobes, not by an opaque jet core. These results show that future VLBI surveys aimed to search for new sources with parsec-scale structure should include not only flat-spectrum sources, but also steep-spectrum ones in order to reach an acceptable level of completeness.

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arXiv2020

Space VLBI 2020: Science and Technology Futures Conference Summary

The "Space VLBI 2020: Science and Technology Futures" meeting was the second in The Future of High-Resolution Radio Interferometry in Space series. The first meeting (2018 September 5--6; Noordwijk, the Netherlands) focused on the full range of science applications possible for very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) with space-based antennas. Accordingly, the observing frequencies (wavelengths) considered ranged from below 1~MHz (> 300 m) to above 300~GHz (< 1 mm). For this second meeting, the focus was narrowed to mission concepts and the supporting technologies to enable the highest angular resolution observations at frequencies of 30~GHz and higher (< 1 cm). This narrowing of focus was driven by both scientific and technical considerations. First, results from the RadioAstron mission and the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) have generated considerable excitement for studying the inner portions of black hole (BH) accretion disks and jets and testing elements of the General Theory of Relativity (GR). Second, the technologies and requirements involved in space-based VLBI differ considerably between 100~MHz and 100~GHz; a related consideration is that there are a number of existing instruments or mission concepts for frequencies of approximately 100~MHz and below, while it has been some time since attention has been devoted to space VLBI at frequencies above 10~GHz. This conference summary attempts to capture elements of presentations and discussions that occurred.

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arXiv2020

Probing the innermost regions of AGN jets and their magnetic fields with RadioAstron. III. Blazar S5 0716+71 at microarcsecond resolution

We present RadioAstron Space VLBI imaging observations of the BL Lac object S5 0716+71 made on January 3-4 2015 at a frequency of 22 GHz (wavelength $λ=1.3$ cm). The observations were made in the framework of the AGN Polarization Key Science Program. The source was detected on projected space-ground baselines up to 70 833 km (5.6 Earth diameters) for both, parallel hand and cross-hand interferometric visibilities. We have used these detections to obtain a full-polarimetric image of the blazar at an unprecedented angular resolution of 24 $μ$as, the highest for this source to date. This enabled us to estimate the size of the radio core to be $<12\times5~μ$as and to reveal a complex structure and a significant curvature of the blazar jet in the inner 100 $μ$as, which is an indication that the jet viewing angle lies inside the opening angle of the jet conical outflow. Fairly highly (15%) linearly polarized emission is detected in a jet region of 19 $μ$as in size, located 58 $μ$as downstream from the core. The highest brightness temperature in the source frame is estimated to be $>2.2\times10^{13}$ K for the blazar core. This implies that the inverse Compton limit must be violated in the rest frame of the source, even for the largest Doppler factor $δ\thicksim25$ reported for 0716+714.

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arXiv2019

Interstellar Scintillation Monitoring of the RadioAstron Blazars

The RadioAstron space radio telescope provides a unique opportunity to study the extreme brightness temperatures ($\mathrm{T_B }$) in AGNs with unprecedented long baselines of up to 28 Earth diameters. Since interstellar scintillation (ISS) may affect the visibilities observed with space VLBI (sVLBI), a complementary ground based flux density monitoring of the RadioAstron targets, which is performed near in time to the VLBI observation, could be beneficial. The combination/comparison with the sVLBI data can help to unravel the relative influence of source intrinsic and ISS induced effects, which in the end may alter the conclusions on the $\mathrm{T_B }$ measurements from sVLBI. Since 2013, a dedicated monitoring program has been ongoing to observe the ISS of RadioAstron AGN targets with a number of radio telescopes. Here we briefly introduce the program and present results from the statistical analysis of the Effelsberg monitoring data. We discuss the possible effects of ISS on $\mathrm{T_B }$ measurements for the RadioAstron target B0529+483 as a case study.

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arXiv2019

Active galactic nuclei imaging programs of the RadioAstron mission

Imaging relativistic jets in active galactic nuclei (AGN) at angular resolution significantly surpassing that of the ground-based VLBI at centimetre wavelengths is one of the key science objectives of the RadioAstron space-VLBI mission. There are three RadioAstron imaging key science programs that target both nearby radio galaxies and blazars, with one of the programs specifically focusing on polarimetry of the jets. The first images from these programs reach angular resolution of a few tens of microarcseconds and reveal unprecedented details about the jet collimation profile, magnetic field configuration, and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities along the flow in some of the most studied AGN (3C 84, BL Lac, 3C 273, S5 0836+710). Here we give an overview of the goals and strategy of these three ongoing programs, highlight their early results, and discuss the challenges of space-VLBI imaging.

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arXiv2019

Opacity, variability and kinematics of AGN jets

Synchrotron self-absorption in active galactic nuclei (AGN) jets manifests itself as a time delay between flares observed at high and low radio frequencies. It is also responsible for the observing frequency dependent change in size and position of the apparent base of the jet, aka the core shift effect, detected with very long baseline interferometry (VLBI). We measure the time delays and the core shifts in 11 radio-loud AGN to estimate the speed of their jets without relying on multi-epoch VLBI kinematics analysis. The 15$-$8 GHz total flux density time lags are obtained using Gaussian process regression, the core shift values are measured using VLBI observations and adopted from the literature. A strong correlation is found between the apparent core shift and the observed time delay. Our estimate of the jet speed is higher than the apparent speed of the fastest VLBI components by the median coefficient of 1.4. The coefficient ranges for individual sources from 0.5 to 20. We derive Doppler factors, Lorentz factors and viewing angles of the jets, as well as the corresponding de-projected distance from the jet base to the core. The results support evidence for acceleration of the jets with bulk motion Lorentz factor $Γ\propto R^{0.52\pm0.03}$ on de-projected scales $R$ of 0.5$-$500 parsecs.

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arXiv2018

Global millimeter VLBI array survey of ultracompact extragalactic radio sources at 86 GHz

(abridged) Very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations at 86$\,$GHz (wavelength, $λ= 3\,$mm) reach a resolution of about 50 $μ$as, probing the collimation and acceleration regions of relativistic outflows in active galactic nuclei. To extend the statistical studies of compact extragalactic jets, a large global 86 GHz VLBI survey of 162 radio sources was conducted in 2010-2011 using the Global Millimeter VLBI Array. The survey data attained a typical baseline sensitivity of 0.1 Jy and a typical image sensitivity of 5 mJy/beam, providing successful detections and images for all of the survey targets. For 138 objects, the survey provides the first ever VLBI images made at 86 GHz. Gaussian model fitting of the visibility data was applied to represent the structure of the sources. The Gaussian model-fit-based estimates of brightness temperature ($T_\mathrm{b}$) at the jet base (core) and in moving regions (jet components) downstream from the core were compared to the estimates of $T_\mathrm{b}$ limits made directly from the visibility data, demonstrating a good agreement between the two methods. The apparent brightness temperature estimates for the jet cores in our sample range from $2.5 \times 10^{9}\,$K to $ 1.3\times 10^{12}\,$K. A population model with a single intrinsic value of brightness temperature, $T_\mathrm{0}$, is applied to reproduce the observed $T_\mathrm{b}$ distribution. It yields $T_\mathrm{0} = (3.77^{+0.10}_{-0.14}) \times 10^{11}\,$K for the jet cores, implying that the inverse Compton losses dominate the emission. In the jet components, $T_\mathrm{0} =(1.42^{+0.16}_{-0.19})\times 10^{11}\,$K is found, slightly higher than the equipartition limit of $\sim5\times 10^{10}\,$K expected for these jet regions. For objects with sufficient structural detail detected, the adiabatic energy losses dominate the observed changes of $T_\mathrm{b}$ along the jet.

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arXiv2018

The Scattering and Intrinsic Structure of Sagittarius A* at Radio Wavelengths

Radio images of the Galactic Center supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), are dominated by interstellar scattering. Previous studies of Sgr A* have adopted an anisotropic Gaussian model for both the intrinsic source and the scattering, and they have extrapolated the scattering using a purely $λ^2$ scaling to estimate intrinsic properties. However, physically motivated source and scattering models break all three of these assumptions. They also predict that refractive scattering effects will be significant, which have been ignored in standard model fitting procedures. We analyze radio observations of Sgr A* using a physically motivated scattering model, and we develop a prescription to incorporate refractive scattering uncertainties when model fitting. We show that an anisotropic Gaussian scattering kernel is an excellent approximation for Sgr A* at wavelengths longer than 1cm, with an angular size of $(1.380 \pm 0.013) λ_{\rm cm}^2\,{\rm mas}$ along the major axis, $(0.703 \pm 0.013) λ_{\rm cm}^2\,{\rm mas}$ along the minor axis, and a position angle of $81.9^\circ \pm 0.2^\circ$. We estimate that the turbulent dissipation scale is at least $600\,{\rm km}$, with tentative support for $r_{\rm in} = 800 \pm 200\,{\rm km}$, suggesting that the ion Larmor radius defines the dissipation scale. We find that the power-law index for density fluctuations in the scattering material is $β< 3.47$, shallower than expected for a Kolmogorov spectrum ($β=11/3$), and we estimate $β= 3.38^{+0.08}_{-0.04}$ in the case of $r_{\rm in} = 800\,{\rm km}$. We find that the intrinsic structure of Sgr A* is nearly isotropic over wavelengths from 1.3mm to 1.3cm, with a size that is roughly proportional to wavelength. We discuss implications for models of Sgr A*, for theories of interstellar turbulence, and for imaging Sgr A* with the Event Horizon Telescope.

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arXiv2018

Effelsberg Monitoring of a Sample of RadioAstron Blazars: Analysis of Intra-Day Variability

We present the first results of an ongoing intra-day variability (IDV) flux density monitoring program of 107 blazars, which were selected from a sample of RadioAstron space very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) targets. The~IDV observations were performed with the Effelsberg 100-m radio telescope at 4.8\,GHz, focusing on the statistical properties of IDV in a relatively large sample of compact active galactic nuclei (AGN). We investigated the dependence of rapid ($<$3 day) variability on various source properties through a likelihood approach. We found that the IDV amplitude depends on flux density and that fainter sources vary by about a factor of 3 more than their brighter counterparts. We also found a significant difference in the variability amplitude between inverted- and flat-spectrum radio sources, with the former exhibiting stronger variations. $γ$-ray loud sources were found to vary by up to a factor 4 more than $γ$-ray quiet ones, with 4$σ$ significance. However a galactic latitude dependence was barely observed, which suggests that it is predominantly the intrinsic properties (e.g., angular size, core-dominance) of the blazars that determine how they scintillate, rather than the directional dependence in the interstellar medium (ISM). We showed that the uncertainty in the VLBI brightness temperatures obtained from the space VLBI data of the RadioAstron satellite can be as high as $\sim$70\% due to the presence of the rapid flux density variations. Our statistical results support the view that IDV at centimeter wavelengths is predominantly caused by interstellar scintillation (ISS) of the emission from the most compact, core-dominant region in an AGN.

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arXiv2017

Observational consequences of optical band milliarcsecond-scale structure in active galactic nuclei discovered by Gaia

We interpret the recent discovery of a preferable VLBI/Gaia offset direction for radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGNs) along the parsec-scale radio jets as a manifestation of their optical structure on scales of 1 to 100 milliarcseconds. The extended jet structure affects the Gaia position stronger than the VLBI position due to the difference in observing techniques. Gaia detects total power while VLBI measures the correlated quantity, visibility, and therefore, sensitive to compact structures. The synergy of VLBI that is sensitive to the position of the most compact source component, usually associated with the opaque radio core, and Gaia that is sensitive to the centroid of optical emission, opens a window of opportunity to study optical jets at milliarcsecond resolution, two orders of magnitude finer than the resolution of most existing optical instruments. We demonstrate that strong variability of optical jets is able to cause a jitter comparable to the VLBI/Gaia offsets at a quiet state, i.e. several milliarcseconds. We show that the VLBI/Gaia position jitter correlation with the AGN optical light curve may help to locate the region where the flare occurred, estimate its distance from the super-massive black hole and the ratio of the flux density in the flaring region to the total flux density.

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arXiv2017

A connection between $γ$-ray and parsec-scale radio flares in the blazar 3C 273

We present a comprehensive 5-43 GHz VLBA study of the blazar 3C 273 initiated after an onset of a strong $γ$-ray flare in this source. We have analyzed the kinematics of new-born components, light curves, and position of the apparent core to pinpoint the location of the $γ$-ray emission. Estimated location of the $γ$-ray emission zone is close to the jet apex, 2 pc to 7 pc upstream from the observed 7 mm core. This is supported by ejection of a new component. The apparent core position was found to be inversely proportional to frequency. The brightness temperature in the 7 mm core reached values up to at least $10^{13}$ K during the flare. This supports the dominance of particle energy density over that of magnetic field in the 7 mm core. Particle density increased during the radio flare at the apparent jet base, affecting synchrotron opacity. This manifested itself as an apparent core shuttle along the jet during the 7 mm flare. It is also shown that a region where optical depth decreases from $τ\sim1$ to $τ<<1$ spans over several parsecs along the jet. The jet bulk flow speed estimated at the level of 12c on the basis of time lags between 7 mm light curves of stationary jet features is 1.5 times higher than that derived from VLBI apparent kinematics analysis.

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arXiv2016

Extreme Brightness Temperatures and Refractive Substructure in 3C273 with RadioAstron

Earth-space interferometry with RadioAstron provides the highest direct angular resolution ever achieved in astronomy at any wavelength. RadioAstron detections of the classic quasar 3C273 on interferometric baselines up to 171,000 km suggest brightness temperatures exceeding expected limits from the "inverse-Compton catastrophe" by two orders of magnitude. We show that at 18 cm, these estimates most probably arise from refractive substructure introduced by scattering in the interstellar medium. We use the scattering properties to estimate an intrinsic brightness temperature of 7*10^12 K, which is consistent with expected theoretical limits, but which is ~15 times lower than estimates that neglect substructure. At 6.2 cm, the substructure influences the measured values appreciably but gives an estimated brightness temperature that is comparable to models that do not account for the substructure. At 1.35 cm, the substructure does not affect the extremely high inferred brightness temperatures, in excess of 10^13 K. We also demonstrate that for a source having a Gaussian surface brightness profile, a single long-baseline estimate of refractive substructure determines an absolute minimum brightness temperature, if the scattering properties along a given line of sight are known, and that this minimum accurately approximates the apparent brightness temperature over a wide range of total flux densities.

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arXiv2015

Probing the innermost regions of AGN jets and their magnetic fields with RadioAstron. I. Imaging BL Lacertae at 21 microarcsecond resolution

We present the first polarimetric space VLBI imaging observations at 22 GHz. BL Lacertae was observed in 2013 November 10 with the RadioAstron space VLBI mission, including a ground array of 15 radio telescopes. The instrumental polarization of the space radio telescope is found to be within 9%, demonstrating the polarimetric imaging capabilities of RadioAstron at 22 GHz. Ground-space fringes were obtained up to a projected baseline distance of 7.9 Earth's diameters in length, allowing us to image the jet in BL Lacertae with a maximum angular resolution of 21 $μ$as, the highest achieved to date. We find evidence for emission upstream of the radio core, which may correspond to a recollimation shock at about 40 $μ$as from the jet apex, in a pattern that includes other recollimation shocks at approximately 100 $μ$as and 250 $μ$as from the jet apex. Polarized emission is detected in two components within the innermost 0.5 mas from the core, as well as in some knots 3 mas downstream. Faraday rotation analysis, obtained from combining RadioAstron 22 GHz and ground-based 15 GHz and 43 GHz images, shows a gradient in rotation measure and Faraday corrected polarization vector as a function of position angle with respect to the core, suggesting that the jet in BL Lacertae is threaded by a helical magnetic field. The intrinsic de-boosted brightness temperature in the unresolved core exceeds $3\!\times\!10^{12}$ K, suggesting at the very least departure from equipartition of energy between the magnetic field and radiating particles.

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arXiv2015

The connection between the radio jet and the gamma-ray emission in the radio galaxy 3C 120

We present the analysis of the radio jet evolution of the radio galaxy 3C 120 during a period of prolonged gamma-ray activity detected by the Fermi satellite between December 2012 and October 2014. We find a clear connection between the gamma-ray and radio emission, such that every period of gamma-ray activity is accompanied by the flaring of the mm-VLBI core and subsequent ejection of a new superluminal component. However, not all ejections of components are associated with gamma-ray events detectable by Fermi. Clear gamma-ray detections are obtained only when components are moving in a direction closer to our line of sight.This suggests that the observed gamma-ray emission depends not only on the interaction of moving components with the mm-VLBI core, but also on their orientation with respect to the observer. Timing of the gamma-ray detections and ejection of superluminal components locate the gamma-ray production to within almost 0.13 pc from the mm-VLBI core, which was previously estimated to lie about 0.24 pc from the central black hole. This corresponds to about twice the estimated extension of the broad line region, limiting the external photon field and therefore suggesting synchrotron self Compton as the most probable mechanism for the production of the gamma-ray emission. Alternatively, the interaction of components with the jet sheath can provide the necessary photon field to produced the observed gamma-rays by Compton scattering.

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