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Observational evidence for the accretion-disk origin for a radio jet in an active galaxy

Author

Listed:
  • Alan P. Marscher

    (Boston University)

  • Svetlana G. Jorstad

    (Boston University
    Sobolev Astronomical Institute, St Petersburg State University)

  • José-Luis Gómez

    (Insituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (CSIC))

  • Margo F. Aller

    (University of Michigan)

  • Harri Teräsranta

    (Helsinki University of Technology)

  • Matthew L. Lister

    (National Radio Astronomy Observatory)

  • Alastair M. Stirling

    (University of Central Lancashire)

Abstract

Accretion of gas onto black holes is thought to power the relativistic jets of material ejected from active galactic nuclei (AGN) and the ‘microquasars’ located in our Galaxy1,2,3. In microquasars, superluminal radio-emitting features appear and propagate along the jet shortly after sudden decreases in the X-ray fluxes1. This establishes a direct observational link between the black hole and the jet: the X-ray dip is probably caused by the disappearance of a section of the inner accretion disk4 as it falls past the event horizon, while the remainder of the disk section is ejected into the jet, creating the appearance of a superluminal bright spot5. No such connection has hitherto been established for AGN, because of insufficient multi-frequency data. Here we report the results of three years of monitoring the X-ray and radio emission of the galaxy 3C120. As has been observed for microquasars, we find that dips in the X-ray emission are followed by ejections of bright superluminal knots in the radio jet. The mean time between X-ray dips appears to scale roughly with the mass of the black hole, although there are at present only a few data points.

Suggested Citation

  • Alan P. Marscher & Svetlana G. Jorstad & José-Luis Gómez & Margo F. Aller & Harri Teräsranta & Matthew L. Lister & Alastair M. Stirling, 2002. "Observational evidence for the accretion-disk origin for a radio jet in an active galaxy," Nature, Nature, vol. 417(6889), pages 625-627, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:417:y:2002:i:6889:d:10.1038_nature00772
    DOI: 10.1038/nature00772
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