THE MICROARCSECOND STRUCTURE OF AN ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS JET VIA INTERSTELLAR SCINTILLATION
- ARC Centre of Excellence for All-Sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO), Perth (Australia)
- ICRAR/Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6845 (Australia)
- Now at Max-Planck-Institute fuer Radioastronomie, Auf dem Huegel 69, D-53121, Bonn (Germany)
We describe a new tool for studying the structure and physical characteristics of ultracompact active galactic nucleus (AGN) jets and their surroundings with {mu}as precision. This tool is based on the frequency dependence of the light curves observed for intra-day variable radio sources, where the variability is caused by interstellar scintillation. We apply this method to PKS 1257-326 to resolve the core-shift as a function of frequency on scales well below {approx}12 {mu}as. We find that the frequency dependence of the position of the scintillating component is r{proportional_to}{nu}{sup -0.1{+-}0.24} (99% confidence interval) and the frequency dependence of the size of the scintillating component is d{proportional_to}{nu}{sup -0.64{+-}0.006}. Together, these results imply that the jet opening angle increases with distance along the jet: d{proportional_to}r{sup n{sub d}} with n{sub d} > 1.8. We show that the flaring of the jet, and flat frequency dependence of the core position is broadly consistent with a model in which the jet is hydrostatically confined and traversing a steep pressure gradient in the confining medium with p{proportional_to}r{sup -n{sub p}} and n{sub p} {approx}> 7. Such steep pressure gradients have previously been suggested based on very long baseline interferometry studies of the frequency dependent core shifts in AGNs.
- OSTI ID:
- 22126955
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 765, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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