Exploring the Magnetic Field Configuration in BL Lac Using GMVA

Autor: Bindu Rani, Thomas Krichbaum, Jeff A. Hodgson, Shoko Koyama, Anton J. Zensus, Lars Fuhramnn, Alan Marscher, Svetlana Jorstad
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2016
Předmět:
Zdroj: Galaxies, Vol 4, Iss 3, p 32 (2016)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2075-4434
DOI: 10.3390/galaxies4030032
Popis: The high radio frequency polarization imaging of non-thermal emission from active galactic nuclei (AGN) is a direct way to probe the magnetic field strength and structure in the immediate vicinity of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and is crucial in testing the jet-launching scenario. To explore the the magnetic field configuration at the base of jets in blazars, we took advantage of the full polarization capabilities of the Global Millimeter VLBI Array (GMVA). With an angular resolution of ∼50 micro-arcseconds (μas) at 86 GHz, one could resolve scales up to ∼450 gravitational radii (for a 10 9 solar mass black hole at a redshift of 0.1). We present here the preliminary results of our study on the blazar BL Lac. Our results suggest that on sub-mas scales the core and the central jet of BL Lac are significantly polarized with two distinct regions of polarized intensity. We also noted a great morphological similarity between the 7 mm/3 mm VLBI images at very similar angular resolution.
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