Compact radio jets and nuclear

regions in galaxies
Andrei Lobanov
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie

8th European VLBI Network Symposium

Torun, 26-29 September 2006
 Outline
A. Lobanov

 Observational studies of extragalactic relativistic jets

 Anatomy of extragalactic jets:
– VLBI “cores”
– collimation and acceleration scales (~103 RS)
– regions dominated by strong shocks (~10 pc)
– dissipation of shocks and development of instabilities
(~100 pc)
– kiloparsec-scale jets
 Relation between the jets and the nuclear environment
in active galaxies:
– jets from supermassive binary black hole systems
– probing absorbing material in the nucleus
– connection to accretion disks and broad-line emission

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 Jets and AGN
A. Lobanov

Mbh = 5*108 M
 Event horizon: 1-2 Rg 10-5 pc
 Ergosphere: 1-2 Rg 10-5 pc
 Corona: 101 – 102 Rg 10-4 – 10-3 pc
 Accretion disk: 101 – 103 Rg 10-4 – 10-2 pc
 Broad line region: 102 – 105 Rg 10-3 – 1 pc
 Molecular torus: > 105 Rg > 1 pc
 Narrow line region: > 106 Rg > 10 pc

 Jet formation: ~ 102 Rg ~ 10-3 pc

 Jet visible in the radio: > 103 Rg > 10-2 pc.
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 Anatomy of Jets

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 “Cores” of jets
A. Lobanov

 Location at which jets become visible in radio is most likely

determined solely by τ=1 condition for synchrotron emission
(Königl 1981).

Lobanov & Zensus 1999

Zensus et al. 1995, Lobanov 1996, Klare et al. 2005

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 Collimation and acceleration
A. Lobanov

 VLBI observations of compact jets in nearby AGN provide

strong evidence for collimation on linear scales of ~103 RG
and strong accelerations on sub-parscec scales
M 87 Cyg A

230 Rs

Bach et al. 2003

Krichbaum et al. 2005

 Magnetically driven acceleration is a viable explanation

for the observed speeds (Vlahakis & Königl 2004)
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 Shocks on pc scales
A. Lobanov

 Strong shocks are clearly present in jets on small scales

(several decaparsecs) – from polarization and distribution of
the synchrotron turnover frequency.

3C 273 Core
J1

J2 J1

Core J2

Carrara et al. 1997

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 Shocks on pc scales
A. Lobanov

 Shock dissipate rapidly while approaching hectoparsec

scales: shock models can no longer explain kinematic and
spectral evolution observed in jets on these scales

Lobanov & Zensus 1999

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 Instabilities on pc scales
A. Lobanov

 Linear regime of K-H instability

λHs=18.0, λEs=12.0, λEb1=4.0, λEb2=1.9

Gj=2.1, Mj=3.5, η=0.02, aj=0.53, vw=0.21

Lobanov & Zensus 2001, Perucho, Lobanov, Martí 2006

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 Instabilities on kpc-scales
A. Lobanov

 On kiloparsec scales, jets are well represented by MHD models;

e.g., models for 3C31 (Laing & Bridle 2002,2004), and M87 (Lobanov,
Hardee & Eilek 2003, 2006)
M87

HST D E G I A B C

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 Jet disruption on kpc scales
A. Lobanov

0836+710

Lobanov et al. 2006

Perucho, Lobanov, Martí 2007

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 Jets and Nuclear Regions

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 Jets from binary SMBH
A. Lobanov

Sol, Pelletier, Asséo (1989), Lobanov & Roland (2005)

 Magnetically confined outflow from a binary SMBH.

Jet components are produced by perturbations in the beam
 Explains both evolution of a feature in the jet and optical variability
 Jet contains information about the dynamic state of the binary

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 Properties of BBH in 3C345
A. Lobanov

M 1 = 7 ⋅108 M sol , M 2 = 7 ⋅108 M sol

amaj = 0.33pc (0.07 mas), e = 0.1
Porb ≈ 480 years,
Pprec ≈ 2500 years

(Lobanov & Roland 2005)

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 Disk variability and flares
A. Lobanov

 Flares and ejections of new jet components in 3C345 may

be related to the characterstic instability timescales in the
disk at 20-200 Rg

Lobanov & Roland 2005

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 Nuclear absorption
A. Lobanov

 Absorption due to several species, most notably HI, CO,

OH, HCO+
 HI absorption toward compact jets is an excellent tool to probe nuclear
regions on parsec scales.
 Good indicator of physical conditions of the neutral gas(Pedlar 2004)

NGC 4151

0.6pc

Mundell et al. 2003

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 Nuclear absorption
A. Lobanov

 1946+708: Absorption probed on scales of ~100pc; broad (200km/s) and

narrow (50km/s) – likely from a gas in a rotating toroidal structure.

Peck & Taylor 2001

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 Nuclear opacity: Core shift
A. Lobanov

 Position offset of the optically

thick „core“ of a VLBI jet can be used
to estimate physical conditions in the
nuclear region of AGN

Core location:
(Königl 1981)

Core offset measure:

Derived magnetic field and distance from

the central engine to the core:

Lobanov 1998

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 Physics from the core shift
A. Lobanov

 Pressure and density profile in the

broad-line regions; magnetic field
distributions in compact jets

3C345
Lobanov 1998

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 Disk-Jet Connection: 3C120
A. Lobanov

(Marscher et al. 2002)

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 Jet-BLR connection
A. Lobanov

 BLRG 3C390.3: jet can produce a large fraction of non-thermal continuum

 Optical maxima correlate with the passages of relativistic plasma through S1
 An X-ray minimum is found close to the ejection epochs of C5 and C6

Arshakian et al. 2006

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 Jet-BLR connection
A. Lobanov

 The jet in 3C390.3 may power a BLR associated with a

subrelativistic outflow from the nucleus.
Relativistic jet Subrelativistic outflow

VLBI “core” BLR 2 (outflow)

Corona BLR 1 (disk)

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 Summary
A. Lobanov

 Jets are an excellent laboratory for AGN studies

 Small scale jets are dominated by shocks
 At larger scales, shocks dissipate, and Kelvin-Helmholtz
instability determines the structure and dynamics of the flow
 Elliptical and helical modes of K-H instability are most
prominent, leading to eventual disruption of the flow
 Magnetically confined outflows may preserve information
about the dynamic evolution of the nucleus
 Jets can be used as probes of nuclear regions in AGN
 Jet-BLR connection may exist and should be investigated
in detail.

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