Search results for "quasar"
showing 10 items of 133 documents
S5 0836+710: An FRII jet disrupted by the growth of a helical instability?
2012
The remarkable stability of extragalactic jets is surprising, given the reasonable possibility of the growth of instabilities. In addition, much work in the literature has invoked this possibility in order to explain observed jet structures and obtain information from these structures. For example, it was recently shown that the observed helical structures in the jet in S5 0836+710 could be associated with helical pressure waves generated by Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. Our aim is to resolve the arc-second structure of the jet in the quasar S5 0836+710 and confirm the lack of a hot-spot (reverse jet-shock) found by present observing arrays, as this lack implies a loss of jet collimation be…
Studying the microlenses mass function from statistical analysis of the caustic concentration
2011
The statistical distribution of caustic crossings by the images of a lensed quasar depends on the properties of the distribution of microlenses in the lens galaxy. We use a procedure based in Inverse Polygon Mapping to easily identify the critical and caustic curves generated by a distribution of stars in the lens galaxy. We analyze the statistical distributions of the number of caustic crossings by a pixel size source for several projected mass densities and different mass distributions. We compare the results of simulations with theoretical binomial distributions. Finally we apply this method to the study of the stellar mass distribution in the lens galaxy of QSO 2237+0305.
Observational Cosmology at High Redshift
2007
Summary. I offer a brief review of the evolution and present status of our observational knowledge of the high-redshift Universe. In particular, I focus on the different methods that have been devised to select distant objects, and the observational evidence in hand to support (or else) the standard evolutionary scenario. 1 How High is High? The study of objects at cosmological distances from us started in the 1960s with the discovery and identification of quasi-stellar radiosources. The explanation of the features observed in the optical spectra of these objects as highly redshifted hydrogen lines opened the door to the very distant Universe. For the next 30 years after the discovery of qu…
On the identification of celestial γ-ray sources
1978
THE observations from COS B have provided a new and more detailed picture of the high energy γ-ray emission from the Galaxy. We discuss here the first catalogue with 13 localised sources which has been compiled1,2 and how the list should lengthen in the near future, as the data analysis progresses.
Absolute kinematics of radio source components in the complete S5 polar cap sample I. First and second epoch maps at 8.4 GHz
2001
We observed the thirteen extragalactic radio sources of the S5 polar cap sample at 8.4 GHz with the Very Long Baseline Array, on 1997.93 and 1999.41. We present the maps from those two epochs and briefly discuss the morphological changes experimented by some of the radio sources in the 1.4 yr elapsed. These results correspond to the first two epochs at 8.4 GHz of a program directed to study the absolute kinematics of the radio source components of the members of the sample by means of phase delay astrometry at 8.4, 15 and 43 GHz.
JET PROPAGATION AND DECELERATION
2013
Extragalactic jets in active galactic nuclei (AGN) are divided into two morphological types, namely Fanaroff-Riley I (FRI) and Fanaroff-Riley II (FRII). The former show decollimated structure at the kiloparsec scales and are thought to be decelerated by entrainment within the first kiloparsecs of evolution inside the host galaxy. The entrainment and deceleration can be, at least partly, due to the interaction of jets with stellar winds and gas clouds that enter in the jet as they orbit around the galactic centre. In this contribution, I review recent simulations to study the dynamic effect of entrainment from stellar winds in jets and the direct interaction of jets with gas clouds and stell…
A Dynamical Model for the Evolution of Hot Spots in Powerful Radio Sources
2003
AbstractCompact symmetric objects are considered the young counterparts of large doubles according to advance speeds measured or inferred from spectral ageing. Here we present a simple power law model for the CSO/FR II evolution based on the study of sources with well defined hot spots. The luminosity of the hot spots is estimated under minimum energy conditions. The advance of the source is considered to proceed in ram pressure equilibrium with the ambient medium. Finally, we also assume that the jets feeding the hot spots are relativistic and have a time dependent power. Comparison with observational data points to an interpretation of the CSO–FR II evolution in terms of decreasing jet po…
Analytical and Numerical Studies of Fluid Instabilities in Relativistic Jets
2007
Relativistic outflows represent one of the best-suited tools to probe the physics of AGN. Numerical modelling of internal structure of the relativistic outflows on parsec scales provides important clues about the conditions and dynamics of the material in the immediate vicinity of the central black holes in AGN. We investigate possible causes of the structural patterns and regularities observed in the parsec-scale jet of the well known quasar 3C 273. We compare the model with the radio structure observed in 3C 273 on parsec scales using very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) and constrain the basic properties of the flow. Our results show that Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities are the most p…
Physical properties of the jet in 0836+710 revealed by its transversal structure(Corrigendum)
2011
Perucho & Lobanov (2007) (PL07, from now on) presented results demonstrating that the jet in 0836+710 has a significant velocity shear layer. These authors used a set of jet parameters found by Lobanov et al. (1998) (including Lorentz factor γ = 11, Mach number Mj = 6, and jet/ambient medium density ratio ρj/ρa = 0.04). They studied different characteristic wavelengths that may develop in a jet with both a thin ( 10% of the jet radius) and a thick shear-ayer ( 60% of the jet radius). The result showed that the observed wavelengths in the jet structure could be more easily explained in terms of a transversally stratified jet. A mistake was, however made in PL07: the equation used to convert …
MOJAVE: MONITORING OF JETS IN ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI WITH VLBA EXPERIMENTS. VII. BLAZAR JET ACCELERATION
2009
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. Parallel accelerations, representing changes in apparent speed, are generally larger than perpendicular acceleration that r…