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Register a new userVLBI Surveys of Active Galactic Nuclei
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Authors
Y. Y. Kovalev
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A review is given on the current status and selected results from large VLBI surveys of compact extragalactic radio sources made between 13 cm and 3 mm wavelengths and covering the entire sky. More than 4200 objects are observed and imaged with dynamic ranges from a hundred to several thousand at (sub)parsec scales. Implications to the VSOP-2 project are discussed.
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We present an update of the parsec scale properties of the Bologna Complete Sample consisting of 95 radio sources from the B2 Catalog of Radio Sources and the Third Cambridge Revised Catalog (3CR), with z < 0.1. Thanks to recent new data we have now parsec scale images for 76 sources of the sample. Most of them show a one-sided jet structure but we find a higher fraction of two-sided sources in comparison with previous flux-limited VLBI surveys. A few peculiar sources are presented and discussed in more detail.
Over the past few decades, our knowledge of jets produced by active galactic nuclei (AGN) has greatly progressed thanks to the development of very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI). Nevertheless, the crucial mechanisms involved in the formation of the plasma flow, as well as those driving its exceptional radiative output up to TeV energies, remain to be clarified. Most likely, these physical processes take place at short separations from the supermassive black hole, on scales which are inaccessible to VLBI observations at centimeter wavelengths. Due to their high synchrotron opacity, the dense and highly magnetized regions in the vicinity of the central engine can only be penetrated when observing at shorter wavelengths, in the millimeter and sub-millimeter regimes. While this was recognized already in the early days of VLBI, it was not until the very recent years that sensitive VLBI imaging at high frequencies has become possible. Ongoing technical development and wide band observing now provide adequate imaging fidelity to carry out more detailed analyses. In this article we overview some open questions concerning the physics of AGN jets, and we discuss the impact of mm-VLBI studies. Among the rich set of results produced so far in this frequency regime, we particularly focus on studies performed at 43 GHz (7 mm) and at 86 GHz (3 mm). Some of the first findings at 230 GHz (1 mm) obtained with the Event Horizon Telescope are also presented.
The data release 1 (DR1) of milliarcsecond-scale accurate optical positions of stars and galaxies was recently published by the space mission Gaia. We study the offsets of highly accurate absolute radio (very long baseline interferometry, VLBI) and optical positions of active galactic nuclei (AGN) to see whether or not a signature of wavelength-dependent parsec-scale structure can be seen. We analyzed VLBI and Gaia positions and determined the direction of jets in 2957 AGNs from their VLBI images. We find that there is a statistically significant excess of sources with VLBI-to-Gaia position offset in directions along and opposite to the jet. Offsets along the jet vary from zero to tens of mas. Offsets in the opposite direction do not exceed 3 mas. The presense of strong, extended parsec-scale optical jet structures in many AGNs is required to explain all observed VLBI-Gaia offsets along the jet direction. The offsets in the opposite direction shorter than 1 mas can be explained either by a non-point-like VLBI jet structure or a core-shift effect due to synchrotron opacity.
The East Asian very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) Network (EAVN) is a rapidly evolving international VLBI array that is currently promoted under joint efforts among China, Japan, and Korea. EAVN aims at forming a joint VLBI Network by combining a large number of radio telescopes distributed over East Asian regions. After the combination of the Korean VLBI Network (KVN) and the VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry (VERA) into KaVA, further expansion with the joint array in East Asia is actively promoted. Here we report the first imaging results (at 22 and 43 GHz) of bright radio sources obtained with KaVA connected to Tianma 65-m and Nanshan 26-m Radio Telescopes in China. To test the EAVN imaging performance for different sources, we observed four active galactic nuclei (AGN) having different brightness and morphology. As a result, we confirmed that Tianma 65-m Radio Telescope (TMRT) significantly enhances the overall array sensitivity, a factor of 4 improvement in baseline sensitivity and 2 in image dynamic range compared to the case of KaVA only. The addition of Nanshan 26-m Radio Telescope (NSRT) further doubled the east-west angular resolution. With the resulting high-dynamic-range, high-resolution images with EAVN (KaVA+TMRT+NSRT), various fine-scale structures in our targets, such as the counter-jet in M87, a kink-like morphology of the 3C273 jet and the weak emission in other sources, are successfully detected. This demonstrates the powerful capability of EAVN to study AGN jets and to achieve other science goals in general. Ongoing expansion of EAVN will further enhance the angular resolution, detection sensitivity and frequency coverage of the network.
Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are powered by the accretion of material onto a supermassive black hole (SMBH), and are among the most luminous objects in the Universe. However, the huge radiative power of most AGN cannot be seen directly, as the accretion is hidden behind gas and dust that absorbs many of the characteristic observational signatures. This obscuration presents an important challenge for uncovering the complete AGN population and understanding the cosmic evolution of SMBHs. In this review we describe a broad range of multi-wavelength techniques that are currently employed to identify obscured AGN, and assess the reliability and completeness of each technique. We follow with a discussion of the demographics of obscured AGN activity, explore the nature and physical scales of the obscuring material, and assess the implications of obscured AGN for observational cosmology. We conclude with an outline of the prospects for future progress from both observations and theoretical models, and highlight some of the key outstanding questions.
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