Evolving parsec-scale radio structure in the most distant blazar known
Journal article, 2020
Blazars are a sub-class of quasars with Doppler boosted jets oriented close to the line of sight, and thus efficient probes of supermassive black hole growth and their environment, especially at high redshifts. Here we report on Very Long Baseline Interferometry observations of a blazar J0906 + 6930 at z = 5.47, which enabled the detection of polarised emission and measurement of jet proper motion at parsec scales. The observations suggest a less powerful jet compared with the general blazar population, including lower proper motion and bulk Lorentz factor. This coupled with a previously inferred high accretion rate indicate a transition from an accretion radiative power to a jet mechanical power based transfer of energy and momentum to the surrounding gas. While alternative scenarios could not be fully ruled out, our results indicate a possibly nascent jet embedded in and interacting with a dense medium resulting in a jet bending.
momentum
probe
jet
emission
accretion
polarization
mechanical property
Author
T. An
Chinese Academy of Sciences
P. Mohan
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Y. K. Zhang
Chinese Academy of Sciences
S. Frey
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Jun Yang
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Onsala Space Observatory
Krisztina E. Gabányi
Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
L. I. Gurvits
Delft University of Technology
Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)
Z. Paragi
Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)
Krisztina Perger
Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Zhenya Zheng
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Nature Communications
2041-1723 (ISSN) 20411723 (eISSN)
Vol. 11 1 143Subject Categories (SSIF 2011)
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
DOI
10.1038/s41467-019-14093-2
PubMed
31919424