3C 279 Event Horizon Telescope imaging

DOI

3C 279 is an archetypal blazar with a prominent radio jet that show broadband flux density variability across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. We use an ultra-high angular resolution technique - global Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) at 1.3mm (230GHz) - to resolve the innermost jet of 3C 279 in order to study its fine-scale morphology close to the jet base where highly variable gamma-ray emission is thought to originate, according to various models. The source was observed during four days in April 2017 with the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) at 230 GHz, including the phased Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), at an angular resolution of ~20uarcsec (at a redshift of z=0.536 this corresponds to ~0.13pc, ~1700 Schwarzschild radii with a black hole mass M_BH_=8x10^8^M_{sun}_). Imaging and model-fitting techniques were applied to the data to parameterize the fine-scale source structure and its variation. We find a multicomponent inner jet morphology with the northernmost component elongated perpendicular to the direction of the jet, as imaged at longer wavelengths. The elongated nuclear structure is consistent on all four observing days and across different imaging methods and model-fitting techniques, and therefore appears robust. Owing to its compactness and brightness, we associate the northern nuclear structure as the VLBI "core". This morphology can be interpreted as either a broad resolved jet base or a spatially bent jet. We also find significant day-to-day variations in the closure phases, which appear most pronounced on the triangles with the longest baselines. Our analysis shows that this variation is related to a systematic change of the source structure. Two inner jet components move non-radially at apparent speeds of ~15c and ~20c (~1.3 and ~1.7uarcsec/day, respectively), which more strongly supports the scenario of traveling shocks or instabilities in a bent, possibly rotating jet. The observed apparent speeds are also coincident with the 3C 279 large-scale jet kinematics observed at longer (cm) wavelengths, suggesting no significant jet acceleration between the 1.3mm core and the outer jet. The intrinsic brightness temperature of the jet components are =7mm wavelengths. The low brightness temperature and morphological complexity suggest that the core region of 3C279 becomes optically thin at short (mm) wavelengths.

Identifier
DOI http://doi.org/10.26093/cds/vizier.36400069
Source https://dc.g-vo.org/rr/q/lp/custom/CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/640/A69
Related Identifier https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/640/A69
Related Identifier https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/A+A/640/A69
Metadata Access http://dc.g-vo.org/rr/q/pmh/pubreg.xml?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=oai_b2find&identifier=ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/640/A69
Provenance
Creator Kim J.-Y.; Krichbaum T.P.; Broderick A.E.; Wielgus M.; Blackburn L.,Gomez J.L.; Johnson M.D.; Bouman K.L.; Chael A.; Akiyama K.; Jorstad S.,Marscher A.P.; Issaoun S.; Janssen M.; Chan C.-k.; Savolainen T.,Pesce D.W.; Oezel F.; Alberdi A.; Alef W.; Asada K.; Azulay R.,Baczko A.-K.; Ball D.; Balokovi'c M.; Barrett J.; Bintley D.; Boland W.,Bower G.C.; Bremer M.; Brinkerink C.D.; Brissenden R.; Britzen S.,Broguiere D.; Bronzwaer T.; Byun D.-Y.; Carlstrom J.E.; Chatterjee S.,Chatterjee K.; Chen M.-T.; Chen Y.; Cho I.; Christian P.; Conway J.E.,Cordes J.M.; Crew G.B.; Cui Y.; Davelaar J.; De Laurentis M.; Deane R.,Dempsey J.; Desvignes G.; Dexter J.; Doeleman S.S.; Eatough R.P.,Falcke H.; Fish V.L.; Fomalont E.; Fraga-Encinas R.; Friberg P.,Fromm C.M.; Galison P.; Gammie C.F.; Garcia R.; Gentaz O.; Georgiev B.,Goddi C.; Gold R.; Gu M.; Gurwell M.; Hada K.; Hecht M.H.; Hesper R.,Ho L.C.; Ho P.; Honma M.; Huang C.-W.L.; Huang L.; Hughes D.H.; Ikeda S.,Inoue M.; James D.J.; Jannuzi B.T.; Jeter B.; Jiang W.; Jimenez-Rosales A.,Jung T.; Karami M.; Karuppusamy R.; Kawashima T.; Keating G.K.,Kettenis M.; Kim J.; Kino M.; Koay J.Y.; Koch P.M.; Koyama S.,Kramer M.; Kramer C.; Kuo C.-Y.; Lauer T.R.; Lee S.-S.; Li Y.-R.; Li Z.,Lindqvist M.; Lico R.; Liu K.; Liuzzo E.; Lo W.-P.; Lobanov A.P.,Loinard L.; Lonsdale C.; Lu R.-S.; MacDonald N.R.; Mao J.; Marko S.,Marrone D.P.; Marti-Vidal I.; Matsushita S.; Matthews L.D.; Medeiros L.,Menten K.M.; Mizuno Y.; Mizuno I.; Moran J.M.; Moriyama K.,Moscibrodzka M.; Mueller C.; Nagai H.; Nagar N.M.; Nakamura M.; Narayan R.,Narayanan G.; Natarajan I.; Neri R.; Ni C.; Noutsos A.; Okino H.,Olivares H.; Ortiz-Leon G.N.; Oyama T.; Palumbo D.C.M.; Park J.; Patel N.,Pen U.-L.; Pietu V.; Plambeck R.; PopStefanija A.; Porth O.; Prather B.,Preciado-Lopez J.A.; Psaltis D.; Pu H.-Y.; Ramakrishnan V.; Rao R.,Rawlings M.G.; Raymond A.W.; Rezzolla L.; Ripperda B.; Roelofs F.,Rogers A.; Ros E.; Rose M.; Roshanineshat A.; Rottmann H.; Roy A.L.,Ruszczyk C.; Ryan B.R.; Rygl K.L.J.; Sanchez S.; Sanchez-Arguelles D.,Sasada M.; Schloerb F.P.; Schuster K.-F.; Shao L.; Shen Z.; Small D.,Sohn B.W.; SooHoo J.; Tazaki F.; Tiede P.; Tilanus R.P.J.; Titus M.,Toma K.; Torne P.; Trent T.; Traianou E.; Trippe S.; Tsuda S.,van Bemmel I.; van Langevelde H.J.; van Rossum D.R.; Wagner J.; Wardle J.,Ward-Thompson D.; Weintroub J.; Wex N.; Wharton R.; Wong G.N.; Wu Qi.,Yoon D.; Young A.; Young K.; Younsi Z.; Yuan F.; Yuan Y.-F.; Zensus J.A.,Zhao G.; Zhao S.-S.; Zhu Z.; Algaba J.-C.; Allardi A.; Amestica R.,Anczarski J.; Bach U.; Bagano F.K.; Beaudoin C.; Benson B.A.; Berthold R.,Blanchard J.M.; Blundell R.; Bustamente S.; Cappallo R.,Castillo-Dominguez E.; Chang C.-C.; Chang S.-H.; Chang S.-C.; Chen C.-C.,Chilson R.; Chuter T.C.; Cordova Rosado R.; Coulson I.M.; Crowley J.,Derome M.; Dexter M.; Dornbusch S.; Dudevoir K.A.; Dzib S.A.; Eckart A.,Eckert C.; Erickson N.R.; Everett W.B.; Faber A.; Farah J.R.; Fath V.,Folkers T.W.; Forbes D.C.; Freund R.; Gomez-Ruiz A.I.; Gale D.M.; Gao F.,Geertsema G.; Graham D.A.; Greer C.H.; Grosslein R.; Gueth F.; Haggard D.,Halverson N.W.; Han C.-C.; Han K.-C.; Hao J.; Hasegawa Y.; Henning J.W.,Hernandez-Gomez A.; Herrero-Illana R.; Heyminck S.; Hirota A.; Hoge J.,Huang Y.-D.; Impellizzeri C.M.V.; Jiang H.; John D.; Kamble A.; Keisler R.,Kimura K.; Kono Y.; Kubo D.; Kuroda J.; Lacasse R.; Laing R.A.,Leitch E.M.; Li C.-T.; Lin L.C.-C.; Liu C.-T.; Liu K.-Y.; Lu L.-M.,Marson R.G.; Martin-Cocher P.L.; Massingill K.D.; Matulonis C.,McColl M.P.; McWhirter S.R.; Messias H.; Meyer-Zhao Z.; Michalik D.,Montana A.; Montgomerie W.; Mora-Klein M.; Muders D.; Nadolski A.,Navarro S.; Neilsen J.; Nguyen C.H.; Nishioka H.; Norton T.; Nowak M.A.,Nystrom G.; Ogawa H.; Oshiro P.; Parsons H.; Penalver J.,Phillips N.M.; Poirier M.; Pradel N.; Primiani R.A.; Ran P.A.; Rahlin A.S.,Reiland G.; Risacher C.; Ruiz I.; Saez-Madain A.F.; Sassella R.,Schellart P.; Shaw P.; Silva K.M.; Shiokawa H.; Smith D.R.; Snow W.,Souccar K.; Sousa D.; Sridharan T.K.; Srinivasan R.; Stahm W.; Stark A.A.,Story K.; Timmer S.T.; Vertatschitsch L.; Walther C.; Wei T.-S.,Whitehorn N.; Whitney A.R.; Woody D.P.; Wouterloot J.G.A.; Wright M.,Yamaguchi P.; Yu C.-Y.; Zeballos M.; Zhang S.; Ziurys L.(The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration)
Publisher CDS
Publication Year 2020
Rights https://cds.unistra.fr/vizier-org/licences_vizier.html
OpenAccess true
Contact CDS support team <cds-question(at)unistra.fr>
Representation
Resource Type Dataset; AstroObjects
Discipline Astrophysics and Astronomy; Galactic and extragalactic Astronomy; Natural Sciences; Observational Astronomy; Physics