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Register a new userGamma-Ray and Parsec-Scale Jet Properties of a Complete Sample of Blazars From the MOJAVE Program
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We investigate the Fermi LAT gamma-ray and 15 GHz VLBA radio properties of a joint gamma-ray- and radio-selected sample of AGNs obtained during the first 11 months of the Fermi mission (2008 Aug 4 - 2009 Jul 5). Our sample contains the brightest 173 AGNs in these bands above declination -30 deg. during this period, and thus probes the full range of gamma-ray loudness (gamma-ray to radio band luminosity ratio) in the bright blazar population. The latter quantity spans at least four orders of magnitude, reflecting a wide range of spectral energy distribution (SED) parameters in the bright blazar population. The BL Lac objects, however, display a linear correlation of increasing gamma-ray loudness with synchrotron SED peak frequency, suggesting a universal SED shape for objects of this class. The synchrotron self-Compton model is favored for the gamma-ray emission in these BL Lacs over external seed photon models, since the latter predict a dependence of Compton dominance on Doppler factor that would destroy any observed synchrotron SED peak - gamma-ray loudness correlation. The high-synchrotron peaked (HSP) BL Lac objects are distinguished by lower than average radio core brightness temperatures, and none display large radio modulation indices or high linear core polarization levels. No equivalent trends are seen for the flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQ) in our sample. Given the association of such properties with relativistic beaming, we suggest that the HSP BL Lacs have generally lower Doppler factors than the lower-synchrotron peaked BL Lacs or FSRQs in our sample.
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The quasar 3C~286 is one of two compact steep spectrum sources detected by the {it Fermi}/LAT. Here, we investigate the radio properties of the parsec(pc)-scale jet and its (possible) association with the $gamma$-ray emission in 3C~286. The Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) images at various frequencies reveal a one-sided core--jet structure extending to the southwest at a projected distance of $sim$1 kpc. The component at the jet base showing an inverted spectrum is identified as the core, with a mean brightness temperature of $2.8times 10^{9}$~K. The jet bends at about 600 pc (in projection) away from the core, from a position angle of $-135^circ$ to $-115^circ$. Based on the available VLBI data, we inferred the proper motion speed of the inner jet as $0.013 pm 0.011$ mas yr$^{-1}$ ($beta_{rm app} = 0.6 pm 0.5$), corresponding to a jet speed of about $0.5,c$ at an inclination angle of $48^circ$ between the jet and the line of sight of the observer. The brightness temperature, jet speed and Lorentz factor are much lower than those of $gamma$-ray-emitting blazars, implying that the pc-scale jet in 3C~286 is mildly relativistic. Unlike blazars in which $gamma$-ray emission is in general thought to originate from the beamed innermost jet, the location and mechanism of $gamma$-ray emission in 3C~286 may be different as indicated by the current radio data. Multi-band spectrum fitting may offer a complementary diagnostic clue of the $gamma$-ray production mechanism in this source.
We describe the parsec-scale kinematics of 200 AGN jets based on 15 GHz VLBA data obtained between 1994 Aug 31 and 2011 May 1. We present new VLBA 15 GHz images of these and 59 additional AGN from the MOJAVE and 2 cm Survey programs. Nearly all of the 60 most heavily observed jets show significant changes in their innermost position angle over a 12 to 16 year interval, ranging from 10 deg to 150 deg on the sky, corresponding to intrinsic variations of ~0.5 deg to ~2 deg. The BL Lac jets show smaller variations than quasars. Roughly half of the heavily observed jets show systematic position angle trends with time, and 20 show indications of oscillatory behavior. The time spans of the data sets are too short compared to the fitted periods (5 to 12 y), however, to reliably establish periodicity. The rapid changes and large jumps in position angle seen in many cases suggest that the superluminal AGN jet features occupy only a portion of the entire jet cross section, and may be energized portions of thin instability structures within the jet. We have derived vector proper motions for 887 moving features in 200 jets having at least five VLBA epochs. For 557 well-sampled features, there are sufficient data to additionally study possible accelerations. We find that the moving features are generally non-ballistic, with 70% of the well-sampled features showing either significant accelerations or non-radial motions. Inward motions are rare (2% of all features), are slow (<0.1 mas per y), are more prevalent in BL Lac jets, and are typically found within 1 mas of the unresolved core feature. There is a general trend of increasing apparent speed with distance down the jet for both radio galaxies and BL Lac objects. In most jets, the speeds of the features cluster around a characteristic value, yet there is a considerable dispersion in the distribution. (abridged)
The parsec-scale radio properties of blazars detected by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have been investigated using observations with the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). Comparisons between LAT and non-LAT detected samples were made using contemporaneous data. In total, 232 sources were used in the LAT-detected sample. This very large, radio flux-limited sample of active galactic nuclei (AGN) provides insights into the mechanism that produces strong gamma-ray emission. It has been found that LAT-detected BL Lac objects are very similar to the non-LAT BL Lac objects in most properties, although LAT BL Lac objects may have longer jets. The LAT flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) are significantly different from non-LAT FSRQs and are likely extreme members of the FSRQ population. Contemporaneous observations showed a strong correlation, whereas no correlation is found using archival radio data. Most of the differences between the LAT and non-LAT populations are related to the cores of the sources, indicating that the gamma-ray emission may originate near the base of the jets (i.e., within a few pc of the central engine). There is some indication that LAT-detected sources may have larger jet opening angles than the non-LAT sources. Strong core polarization is significantly more common among the LAT sources, suggesting that gamma-ray emission is related to strong, uniform magnetic fields at the base of the jets of the blazars. Observations of sources in two epochs indicate that core fractional polarization was higher when the objects were detected by the LAT. Included in our sample are several non-blazar AGN such as 3C84, M82, and NGC 6251.
We analyze the parsec-scale jet kinematics from 2007 June to 2013 January of a sample of $gamma$-ray bright blazars monitored roughly monthly with the Very Long Baseline Array at 43~GHz. In a total of 1929 images, we measure apparent speeds of 252 emission knots in 21 quasars, 12 BL~Lacertae objects (BLLacs), and 3 radio galaxies, ranging from 0.02$c$ to 78$c$; 21% of the knots are quasi-stationary. Approximately 1/3 of the moving knots execute non-ballistic motions, with the quasars exhibiting acceleration along the jet within 5~pc (projected) of the core, and knots in the BLLacs tending to decelerate near the core. Using apparent speeds of components and timescales of variability from their light curves, we derive physical parameters of 120 superluminal knots, including variability Doppler factors, Lorentz factors, and viewing angles. We estimate the half-opening angle of each jet based on the projected opening angle and scatter of intrinsic viewing angles of knots. We determine characteristic values of physical parameters for each jet and AGN class based on the range of values obtained for individual features. We calculate intrinsic brightness temperatures of the cores, $T_{rm b,int}^{rm core}$, at all epochs, finding that the radio galaxies usually maintain equipartition conditions in the cores, while $sim$30% of $T_{rm b,int}^{rm core}$ measurements in the quasars and BLLacs deviate from equipartition values by a factor $>$10. This probably occurs during transient events connected with active states. In the Appendix we briefly describe the behavior of each blazar during the period analyzed.
We present results from a parsec-scale jet kinematics study of 409 bright radio-loud AGNs based on 15 GHz VLBA data obtained between 1994 August 31 and 2016 December 26 as part of the 2cm VLBA survey and MOJAVE programs. We tracked 1744 individual bright features in 382 jets over at least five epochs. A majority (59%) of the best-sampled jet features showed evidence of accelerated motion at the >3sigma level. Although most features within a jet typically have speeds within ~40% of a characteristic median value, we identified 55 features in 42 jets that had unusually slow pattern speeds, nearly all of which lie within 4 pc (100 pc de-projected) of the core feature. Our results combined with other speeds from the literature indicate a strong correlation between apparent jet speed and synchrotron peak frequency, with the highest jet speeds being found only in low-peaked AGNs. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we find best fit parent population parameters for a complete sample of 174 quasars above 1.5 Jy at 15 GHz. Acceptable fits are found with a jet population that has a simple unbeamed power law luminosity function incorporating pure luminosity evolution, and a power law Lorentz factor distribution ranging from 1.25 to 50 with slope -1.4 +- 0.2. The parent jets of the brightest radio quasars have a space density of 261 +- 19 Gpc$^{-3}$ and unbeamed 15 GHz luminosities above ~$10^{24.5}$ W/Hz, consistent with FR II class radio galaxies.
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