Search results for "Quasars"
showing 10 items of 52 documents
ALMA third image of lensed quasar PKS 1830-211
2020
Strong gravitational lensing distorts our view of sources at cosmological distances but brings invaluable constraints on the mass content of foreground objects and on the geometry and properties of the Universe. We report the detection of a third continuum source toward the strongly lensed quasar PKS 1830-211 in ALMA multi-frequency observations of high dynamic range and high angular resolution. This third source is point-like and located slightly to the north of the diagonal joining the two main lensed images, A and B, 0.3" away from image B. It has a flux density that is 140 times weaker than images A and B and a similar spectral index, compatible with synchrotron emission. We conclude th…
Absolute kinematics of radio source components in the complete S5 polar cap sample
2008
We report on the first wide-field, high-precision astrometric analysis of the 13 extragalactic radio sources of the complete S5 polar cap sample at 15.4 GHz. We describe new algorithms developed to enable the use of differenced phase delays in wide-field astrometric observations and discuss the impact of using differenced phase delays on the precision of the wide-field astrometric analysis. From this global fit, we obtained estimates of the relative source positions with precisions ranging from 14 to 200 μas at 15.4 GHz, depending on the angular separation of the sources (from ∼1.6 to ∼20.8 degrees). These precisions are ∼10 times higher than the achievable precisions using the phase-refere…
The ALHAMBRA survey: Discovery of a faint QSO at z = 5.41 (Research Note)
2013
Aims. We aim to illustrate the potentiality of the Advanced Large, Homogeneous Area, Medium-Band Redshift Astronomical (ALHAMBRA) survey to investigate the high-redshift universe through the detection of quasi stellar objects (QSOs) at redshifts higher than 5. Methods. We searched for QSOs candidates at high redshift by fitting an extensive library of spectral energy distributions – including active and non-active galaxy templates, as well as stars – to the photometric database of the ALHAMBRA survey (composed of 20 optical medium-band plus the 3 broad-band JHKs near-infrared filters). Results. Our selection over ≈1 square degree of ALHAMBRA data (∼1/4 of the total area covered by the surve…
On the location of the supermassive black hole in CTA102
2015
Relativistic jets in active galactic nuclei represent one of the most powerful phenomena in the Universe. They form in the surroundings of the supermassive black holes as a by-product of accretion onto the central black hole in active galaxies. The flow in the jets propagates at velocities close to the speed of light. The distance between the first part of the jet that is visible in radio images (core) and the black hole is still a matter of debate. Only very-long-baseline interferometry observations resolve the innermost compact regions of the radio jet. Those can access the jet base, and combining data at different wavelenghts, address the physical parameters of the outflow from its emiss…
15GHz and jet properties of MOJAVE blazars
2013
We investigate the Fermi Large Area Telescope {gamma}-ray and 15GHz Very Long Baseline Array radio properties of a joint {gamma}-ray and radio-selected sample of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) obtained during the first 11 months of the Fermi mission (2008 August 4-2009 July 5). Our sample contains the brightest 173 AGNs in these bands above declination -30{deg} during this period, and thus probes the full range of {gamma}-ray loudness ({gamma}-ray to radio band luminosity ratio) in the bright blazar population. The latter quantity spans at least 4 orders of magnitude, reflecting a wide range of spectral energy distribution (SED) parameters in the bright blazar population. The BL Lac objects,…
MOJAVE VII. Blazar jet acceleration
2012
We discuss acceleration measurements for a large sample of extragalactic radio jets from the Monitoring Of Jets in Active Galactic Nuclei with VLBA Experiments (MOJAVE) program, which studies the parsec-scale jet structure and kinematics of a complete, flux-density-limited sample of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Accelerations are measured from the apparent motion of individual jet features or "components" which may represent patterns in the jet flow. We find that significant accelerations are common both parallel and perpendicular to the observed component velocities. Cone search capability for table J/ApJ/706/1253/agn (Positions for AGN sources)
MOJAVE. XII. Acceleration of blazar jets
2015
We report on the acceleration properties of 329 features in 95 blazar jets from the MOJAVE Very Long Baseline Array program. Nearly half the features and three-quarters of the jets show significant changes in speed and/or direction. In general, apparent speed changes are distinctly larger than changes in direction, indicating that changes in the Lorentz factors of jet features dominate the observed speed changes rather than bends along the line of sight. Observed accelerations tend to increase the speed of features near the jet base, <~10-20pc projected, and decrease their speed at longer distances. The range of apparent speeds at a fixed distance in an individual jet can span a factor of a…
MOJAVE. XIII. New 15GHz observations on 1994-2013
2017
We present 1625 new 15GHz (2cm) VLBA images of 295 jets associated with active galactic nuclei (AGNs) from the MOJAVE and 2cm VLBA surveys, spanning observations between 1994 August 31 and 2013 August 20. For 274 AGNs with at least 5 VLBA epochs, we have analyzed the kinematics of 961 individual bright features in their parsec-scale jets. A total of 122 of these jets have not been previously analyzed by the MOJAVE program. In the case of 451 jet features that had at least 10 epochs, we also examined their kinematics for possible accelerations. At least half of the well-sampled features have non-radial and/or accelerating trajectories, indicating that non-ballistic motion is common in AGN je…
Radio-optical scrutiny of compact AGN
2010
We study the correlations between the VLBA (Very Long Baseline Array) radio emission at 15GHz, extended emission at 151MHz, and optical nuclear emission at 5100{AA} for a complete sample of 135 compact jets. We use the partial Kendall's tau correlation analysis to check the link between radio properties of parsec-scale jets and optical nuclear luminosities of host active galactic nuclei (AGN). Cone search capability for table J/A+A/520/A62/table3 (Optical and radio parameters of 135 AGN)
The WEBT BL Lacertae Campaign 2001 and its extension : Optical light curves and colour analysis 1994–2002
2004
BL Lacertae has been the target of four observing campaigns by the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) collaboration. In this paper we present UBVRI light curves obtained by theWEBT from 1994 to 2002, including the last, extended BL Lac 2001 campaign. A total of about 7500 optical observations performed by 31 telescopes from Japan to Mexico have been collected, to be added to the ∼15 600 observations of the BL Lac Campaign 2000. All these data allow one to follow the source optical emission behaviour with unprecedented detail. The analysis of the colour indices reveals that the flux variability can be interpreted in terms of two components: longer-term variations occurring on a fewday time …