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Register a new userAdiabatic expansion and magnetic fields in AGN jets
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A. B. Pushkarev
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Results of high-resolution simultaneous multi-frequency 8.1-15.4 GHz VLBA polarimetric observations of relativistic jets in active galactic nuclei (the MOJAVE-2 project) are analyzed. We compare characteristics of VLBI features with jet model predictions and test if adiabatic expansion is a dominating mechanism for the evolution of relativistic shocks in parsec-scale AGN jets. We also discuss magnetic field configuration, both predicted by the model and deduced from electric vector position angle measurements.
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The question of the degree of order in the magnetic fields of relativistic jets is important to any understanding of their production. Both vector-ordered (e.g. helical) and disordered, but anisotropic fields can produce the high observed degrees of polarization. We outline our models of jets in FR I radio galaxies as decelerating relativistic flows. We then present theoretical calculations of the synchrotron emission from different field configurations and compare them with observed emission from FR I jets. We show that large-scale helical fields (with significant poloidal and toroidal components) are inconsistent with observations. The combination of an ordered toroidal and disordered poloidal component is consistent with our data, as is an entirely disordered field. Jets must also contain small, but significant amounts of radial field.
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