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Register a new userNGC5252: a pair of radio-emitting active galactic nuclei?
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The X-ray source CXO J133815.6+043255 has counterparts in the UV, optical, and radio bands. Based on the multi-band investigations, it has been recently proposed by Kim et al. (2015) as a rarely-seen off-nucleus ultraluminous X-ray (ULX) source with a black hole mass of >= 10^4 solar mass in the nearby Seyfert galaxy NGC 5252. To explore its radio properties at very high angular resolution, we performed very long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations with the European VLBI Network (EVN) at 1.7 GHz. We find that the radio counterpart is remarkably compact among the known ULXs. It does not show a resolved structure with a resolution of a few milliarcsecond (mas), and the total recovered flux density is comparable to that measured in earlier sub-arcsecond-resolution images. The compact radio structure, the relatively flat spectrum, and the high radio luminosity are consistent with a weakly accreting supermassive black hole in a low-luminosity active galactic nucleus. The nucleus of NGC 5252 itself has similar radio properties. We argue that the system represents a relatively rare pair of active galactic nuclei, where both components emit in the radio.
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Basing our analysis on ROGUE I, a catalog of over 32,000 radio sources associated with optical galaxies, we provide two diagnostics to select the galaxies where the radio emission is due to an active galactic nucleus (AGN). Each of these diagnostics can be applied independently. The first one, dubbed MIRAD, compares the flux $F_{W3}$ in the $W3$ mid-infrared band of the WISE telescope, with the radio flux at 1.4 GHz, $Frad$. MIRAD requires no optical spectra. The second diagnostic, dubbed DLM, relates the 4000 AA break strength, $D_{rm n}(4000)$, with the radio luminosity per unit stellar mass. The DLM diagram has already been used in the past, but not as standalone. For these two diagrams, we propose simple, empirical dividing lines that result in the same classification for the objects in common. These lines correctly classify as radio-AGN 99.5 percent of the extended radio sources in the ROGUE~I catalog, and as star-forming (SF) galaxies 98--99 percent of the galaxies identified as such by their emission line ratios. Both diagrams clearly show that radio AGNs are preferentially found among elliptical galaxies and among galaxies hosting the most massive black holes. Most of the radio sources classified as radio-AGNs in the MIRAD or DLM diagrams are either optically weak AGNs or retired galaxies.
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.
Recent X-ray observations show absorbing winds with velocities up to mildly-relativistic values of the order of ~0.1c in a limited sample of 6 broad-line radio galaxies. They are observed as blue-shifted Fe XXV-XXVI K-shell absorption lines, similarly to the ultra-fast outflows (UFOs) reported in Seyferts and quasars. In this work we extend the search for such Fe K absorption lines to a larger sample of 26 radio-loud AGNs observed with XMM-Newton and Suzaku. The sample is drawn from the Swift BAT 58-month catalog and blazars are excluded. X-ray bright FR II radio galaxies constitute the majority of the sources. Combining the results of this analysis with those in the literature we find that UFOs are detected in >27% of the sources. However, correcting for the number of spectra with insufficient signal-to-noise, we can estimate that the incidence of UFOs is this sample of radio-loud AGNs is likely in the range f=(50+/-20)%. A photo-ionization modeling of the absorption lines with XSTAR allows to estimate the distribution of their main parameters. The observed outflow velocities are broadly distributed between v_out<1,000 km s^-1 and v_out~0.4c, with mean and median values of v_out~0.133c and v_out~0.117c, respectively. The material is highly ionized, with an average ionization parameter of logxi~4.5 erg s^-1 cm, and the column densities are larger than N_H > 10^22 cm^-2. Overall, these characteristics are consistent with the presence of complex accretion disk winds in a significant fraction of radio-loud AGNs and demonstrate that the presence of relativistic jets does not preclude the existence of winds, in accordance with several theoretical models.
We develop a method to search for pair halos around active galactic nuclei (AGN) through a temporal analysis of gamma-ray data. The basis of our method is an analysis of the spatial distributions of photons coming from AGN flares and from AGN quiescent states and a further comparison of these two spatial distributions. This method can also be used for a reconstruction of a point spread function (PSF). We found no evidence for a pair halo component through this method by applying it to the Fermi-LAT data in the energy bands of 4.5-6, 6-10, and >10 GeV and set upper limits on the fraction of photons attributable to a pair halo component. An illustration of how to reconstruct the PSF of Fermi-LAT is given. We demonstrate that the PSF reconstructed by using this method is in good agreement with that which was obtained by using the gamma-ray data taken by LAT in the direction of the Crab pulsar and nebula.
For nearly seven decades astronomers have been studying active galaxies, that is to say galaxies with actively accreting central supermassive black holes, AGN. A small fraction of these are characterized by luminous, powerful radio emission: this class is known as radio-loud. A substantial fraction, the so-called radio-quiet AGN population, displays intermediate or weak radio emission. However, an appreciable fraction of strong X-rays emitting AGN are characterized by the absence of radio emission, down to an upper limit of about $10^{-7}$ times the luminosity of the most powerful radio-loud AGN. We wish to address the nature of these - seemingly radio-silent - X-ray-luminous AGN and their host galaxies: is there any radio emission, and if so, where does it originate? Focusing on the GOODS-N field, we examine the nature of these objects employing stacking techniques on ultra-deep radio data obtained with the JVLA. We combine these radio data with Spitzer far-infrared data. We establish the absence, or totally insignificant contribution of jet-driven radio-emission in roughly half of the otherwise normal population of X-ray luminous AGN, which appear to reside in normal star-forming galaxies. We conclude that AGN- or jet-driven radio emission is simply a mechanism that may be at work or may be dormant in galaxies with actively accreting black holes. The latter can be classified as radio-silent AGN.
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