DISK–JET CONNECTION IN THE RADIO GALAXY 3C 120
| Autor: | C. Martin Gaskell, Jeffrey S. Campbell, M. C. Bottorff, Amanda K. Kruse, A. J. Benker, Shoji Masatoshi, Svetlana G. Jorstad, Merja Tornikoski, Cecelia H. Hedrick, E. S. Klimek, Talvikki Hovatta, Jun Tao, Benjamin Chicka, Hugh D. Aller, Zhi-Qiang Shen, Alan P. Marscher, Alice Olmstead, Margo F. Aller, Kevin Marshall, Dmitriy V. Strel'nikov, Aaron E. Watkins, Hong Jian Pan, Kathleen Wheeler, Thomas R. Miller, H. Richard Miller, Wesley T. Ryle, Anne Lähteenmäki, Ian M. McHardy, Evelina R. Gaynullina, B. W. Peterson, D. J. Brokofsky, Eric A. Petersen, K. N. Grankin, Ritaban Chatterjee, Mansur Ibrahimov, Taylor S. Chonis |
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| Rok vydání: | 2009 |
| Předmět: |
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
Physics Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO) Superluminal motion Active galactic nucleus 010308 nuclear & particles physics Radio galaxy Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena FOS: Physical sciences Astronomy and Astrophysics Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics Astrophysics Light curve 01 natural sciences Galaxy Black hole Space and Planetary Science 0103 physical sciences Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena 010303 astronomy & astrophysics Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics Very Long Baseline Array Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics Radio wave |
| Zdroj: | The Astrophysical Journal. 704:1689-1703 |
| ISSN: | 1538-4357 0004-637X |
| DOI: | 10.1088/0004-637x/704/2/1689 |
| Popis: | We present the results of extensive multi-frequency monitoring of the radio galaxy 3C 120 between 2002 and 2007 at X-ray, optical, and radio wave bands, as well as imaging with the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). Over the 5 yr of observation, significant dips in the X-ray light curve are followed by ejections of bright superluminal knots in the VLBA images. Consistent with this, the X-ray flux and 37 GHz flux are anti-correlated with X-ray leading the radio variations. This implies that, in this radio galaxy, the radiative state of accretion disk plus corona system, where the X-rays are produced, has a direct effect on the events in the jet, where the radio emission originates. The X-ray power spectral density of 3C 120 shows a break, with steeper slope at shorter timescale and the break timescale is commensurate with the mass of the central black hole based on observations of Seyfert galaxies and black hole X-ray binaries. These findings provide support for the paradigm that black hole X-ray binaries and active galactic nuclei are fundamentally similar systems, with characteristic time and size scales linearly proportional to the mass of the central black hole. The X-ray and optical variations are strongly correlated in 3C 120, which implies that the optical emission in this object arises from the same general region as the X-rays, i.e., in the accretion disk-corona system. We numerically model multi-wavelength light curves of 3C 120 from such a system with the optical-UV emission produced in the disk and the X-rays generated by scattering of thermal photons by hot electrons in the corona. From the comparison of the temporal properties of the model light curves to that of the observed variability, we constrain the physical size of the corona and the distances of the emitting regions from the central BH. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. 28 pages, 21 figures, 2 tables |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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