DISCOVERY OF A WANDERING RADIO JET BASE AFTER A LARGE X-RAY FLARE IN THE BLAZAR MARKARIAN 421
- Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Yamaguchi University, Yoshida 1677-1, Yamaguchi, Yamaguchi 753-8512 (Japan)
- Korean VLBI Network, Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, Daedeokdae-ro 776, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-348 (Korea, Republic of)
- The Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, 3-1-1 Yoshinodai, Chuou-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 229-8510 (Japan)
- Mizusawa VLBI Observatory, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588 (Japan)
- Chile Observatory, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588 (Japan)
We investigate the location of the radio jet bases (“radio cores”) of blazars in radio images and their stationarity by means of dense very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations. In order to measure the position of a radio core, we conducted a 12 epoch astrometric observation of the blazar Markarian 421 with the VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry at 22 GHz immediately after a large X-ray flare, which occurred in the middle of 2011 September. For the first time,we find that the radio core is not stationary but rather changes its location toward 0.5 mas downstream. This angular scale corresponds to the de-projected length of a scale of 10{sup 5} Schwarzschild radii (R{sub s}) at the distance of Markarian 421. This radio-core wandering may be a new type of manifestation associated with the phenomena of large X-ray flares.
- OSTI ID:
- 22518941
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 807, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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