A highly magnetized twin-jet base pinpoints a supermassive black hole
Journal article, 2016
Supermassive black holes (SMBH) are essential for the production of jets in radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGN). Theoretical models based on (Blandford & Znajek 1977, MNRAS, 179, 433) extract the rotational energy from a Kerr black hole, which could be the case for NGC1052, to launch these jets. This requires magnetic fields on the order of 10(3) G to 10(4) G. We imaged the vicinity of the SMBH of the AGN NGC1052 with the Global Millimetre VLBI Array and found a bright and compact central feature that is smaller than 1.9 light days (100 Schwarzschild radii) in radius. Interpreting this as a blend of the unresolved jet bases, we derive the magnetic field at 1 Schwarzschild radius to lie between 200 G and similar to 8.3 x 10(4) G consistent with Blandford & Znajek models.
magnetic fields
galaxies: magnetic fields
galaxies: jets
galaxies: active
galaxies: nuclei
Author
A. K. Baczko
Max Planck Society
University of Würzburg
University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU)
R. Schulz
University of Würzburg
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU)
M. Kadler
University of Würzburg
Eduardo Ros
Universitat de Valencia
Max Planck Society
M. Perucho
Universitat de Valencia
T. P. Krichbaum
Max Planck Society
M. Bock
Max Planck Society
M. Bremer
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
C. Grossberger
University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU)
University of Würzburg
Max Planck Society
Michael Lindqvist
Chalmers, Earth and Space Sciences, Onsala Space Observatory
A. P. Lobanov
University of Hamburg
Max Planck Society
K. Mannheim
University of Würzburg
Ivan Marti-Vidal
Chalmers, Earth and Space Sciences, Onsala Space Observatory
C. Muller
University of Würzburg
Radboud University
University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU)
J. Wilms
University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU)
A.J. Zensus
Max Planck Society
Astronomy and Astrophysics
0004-6361 (ISSN) 1432-0746 (eISSN)
Vol. 593 A47Subject Categories
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
DOI
10.1051/0004-6361/201527951