Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userThe first IRAM/PdBI polarimetric millimeter survey of active galactic nuclei. II. Activity and properties of individual sources
538
0
0.0
(
0
)
Authors
S. Trippe
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
We present an analysis of the linear polarization of six active galactic nuclei - 0415+379 (3C~111), 0507+179, 0528+134 (OG+134), 0954+658, 1418+546 (OQ+530), and 1637+574 (OS+562). Our targets were monitored from 2007 to 2011 in the observatory-frame frequency range 80-253 GHz, corresponding to a rest-frame frequency range 88-705 GHz. We find average degrees of polarization m_L ~ 2-7%; this indicates that the polarization signals are effectively averaged out by the emitter geometries. We see indication for fairly strong shocks and/or complex, variable emission region geometries in our sources, with compression factors <0.9 and/or changes in viewing angles by >10 deg. An analysis of correlations between source fluxes and polarization parameter points out special cases: the presence of (at least) two distinct emission regions with different levels of polarization (for 0415+379) as well as emission from a single, predominant component (for 0507+179 and 1418+546). Regarding the evolution of flux and polarization, we find good agreement between observations and the signal predicted by oblique shock in jet scenarios in one source (1418+546). We attempt to derive rotation measures for all sources, leading to actual measurements for two AGN and upper limits for three sources. We derive values of RM = -39,000 +/- 1,000 (stat) +/- 13,000 (sys) rad/m^2 and RM = 420,000 +/- 10,000 (stat) +/- 110,000 (sys) rad/m^2 for 1418+546 and 1637+574, respectively; these are the highest values reported to date for AGN. These values indicate magnetic field strengths of the order ~0.0001 G. For 0415+379, 0507+179, and 0954+658 we derive upper limits |RM| < 17,000 rad/m^2. From the relation |RM| ~ nu^a we find a = 1.9 +/- 0.3 for 1418+546, in good agreement with a = 2 as expected for a spherical or conical outflow.
rate research
Read More
We have studied the linear polarization of 86 active galactic nuclei (AGN) in the observed frequency range 80-267 GHz (3.7-1.1mm in wavelength), corresponding to rest-frame frequencies 82-738 GHz, with the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer (PdBI). The large number of measurements, 441, makes our analysis the largest polarimetric AGN survey in this frequency range to date. We extracted polarization parameters via earth rotation polarimetry with unprecedented median precisions of ~0.1% in polarization fractions and ~1.2 degrees in polarization angles. For 73 of 86 sources we detect polarization at least once. The degrees of polarization are as high as ~19%, with the median over all sources being ~4%. Source fluxes and polarizations are typically highly variable, with fractional variabilities up to ~60%. We find that BLLac sources have on average the highest level of polarization. There appears to be no correlation between degree of polarization and redshift, indicating that there has been no substantial change of polarization properties since z~2.4. Our polarization and spectral index distributions are in good agreement with results found from various samples observed at cm/radio wavelengths; thus our frequency range is likely tracing the signature of synchrotron radiation without noticeable contributions from other emission mechanisms. The millimeter-break located at frequencies >1 THz appears to be not detectable in the frequency range covered by our survey.
We analyze the long-term evolution of the fluxes of six active galactic nuclei (AGN) - 0923+392, 3C 111, 3C 273, 3C 345, 3C 454.3, and 3C 84 - in the frequency range 80-267 GHz using archival calibration data of the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer. Our dataset spans a long timeline of ~14 years with 974-3027 flux measurements per source. We find strong (factors ~2-8) flux variability on timescales of years for all sources. The flux density distributions of five out of six sources show clear signatures of bi- or even multimodality. Our sources show mostly steep (alpha~0.5-1), variable spectral indices that indicate outflow dominated emission; the variability is most probably due to optical depth variations. The power spectra globally correspond to red-noise spectra with five sources being located between the cases of white and flicker noise and one source (3C 111) being closer to the case of random walk noise. For three sources the low-frequency ends of their power spectra appear to be upscaled in spectral power by factors ~2-3 with respect to the overall powerlaws. In two sources, 3C 454.3 and 3C 84, the 1.3-mm emission preceeds the 3-mm emission by ~55 and ~300 days, respectively, probably due to (combinations of) optical depth and emission region geometry effects. We conclude that the source emission cannot be described by uniform stochastic emission processes; instead, a distinction of quiescent and (maybe multiple) flare states of the source emission appears to be necessary.
In this paper we give a brief review of the astrophysics of active galactic nuclei (AGN). After a general introduction motivating the study of AGNs, we discuss our present understanding of the inner workings of the central engines, most likely accreting black holes with masses between a million and ten billion solar masses. We highlight recent results concerning the jets (collimated outflows) of AGNs derived from X-ray observations (Chandra) of kpc-scale jets and gamma-ray observations of AGNs (Fermi, Cherenkov telescopes) with jets closely aligned with the lines of sight (blazars), and discuss the interpretation of these observations. Subsequently, we summarize our knowledge about the cosmic history of AGN formation and evolution. We conclude with a description of upcoming observational opportunities.
Short millimeter observations of radio-loud AGN offer the opportunity to study the physics of their inner relativistic jets, from where the bulk millimeter emission is radiated. Millimeter jets are significantly less affected by Faraday rotation and depolarization than in radio. Also, the millimeter emission is dominated by the innermost jet regions, that are invisible in radio owing to synchrotron opacity. We present the first dual frequency simultaneous 86GHz and 229GHz polarimetric survey of all four Stokes parameters of a large sample of 211 radio loud active galactic nuclei, designed to be flux limited at 1Jy at 86GHz. The observations were most of them made in mid August 2010 using the XPOL polarimeter on the IRAM 30 m millimeter radio telescope. Linear polarization detections above 3 sigma median level of ~1.0% are reported for 183 sources at 86GHz, and for 23 sources at 229GHz, where the median 3 sigma level is ~6.0%. We show a clear excess of the linear polarization degree detected at 229GHz with regard to that at 86GHz by a factor of ~1.6, thus implying a progressively better ordered magnetic field for blazar jet regions located progressively upstream in the jet. We show that the linear polarization angle, both at 86 and 229GHz, and the jet structural position angle for both quasars and BL Lacs do not show a clear preference to align in either parallel or perpendicular directions. Our variability study with regard to the 86GHz data from our previous survey points out a large degree variation of total flux and linear polarization in time scales of years by median factors of ~1.5 in total flux, and ~1.7 in linear polarization degree -maximum variations by factors up to 6.3, and ~5, respectively-, with 86% of sources showing linear polarization angles evenly distributed with regard to our previous measurements.
There has been a growing body of evidence to suggest that AGN activity, which is powered by mass accretion on to a supermasive black hole, could be episodic, although the range of time scales involved needs to be explored further. The structure and spectra of radio emission from radio galaxies, whose sizes range up to $sim$5 Mpc, contain information on the history of AGN activity in the source. They thus provide a unique opportunity to study the time scales of recurrent AGN activity. The most striking examples of recurrent activity in radio galaxies and quasars are the double-double or triple-double radio sources which contain two or three pairs of distinct lobes on opposite sides of the parent optical object. Spectral and dynamical ages of these lobes could be used to constrain time scales of episodic activity. Inverse-Compton scattered cosmic microwave background radiation could in principle probe lower Lorentz-factor particles than radio observations of synchrotron emission, and thereby reveal an older population. We review briefly the radio continuum as well as molecular and atomic gas properties of radio sources which exhibit recurrent or episodic activity, and present a few cases of quasars which require further observations to confirm their episodic nature. We also illustrate evidence of episodic AGN activity in radio sources in clusters of galaxies.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
