Spatially resolved polarization swings in the supermassive binary black hole candidate OJ 287 with first Event Horizon Telescope observations
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2026
We present the first Event Horizon Telescope 1.3 mm observations of the supermassive binary black hole candidate OJ 287. The observations achieved an unprecedented angular resolution of 18 µas and reveal significant structural and polarization variability over just five days, marking the shortest timescale on which such changes have been directly imaged in this source. The inner jet exhibits a twisted ridgeline structure, with features displaying apparent superluminal motions up to about 22 c. The linear polarization maps reveal three main polarized features whose electric-vector position angles (EVPAs) change substantially over the time span of our observations, including a component with a radial polarization consistent with being produced by a recollimation shock. Most notably, we directly resolved two innermost jet components whose EVPAs rotate in opposite directions. The faster component, moving at 2.4 ± 0.9 µas/day (17.4 ± 6.5 c), exhibits counterclockwise EVPA swings of roughly 3.7◦ per day, while the slower component, with a proper motion of 1.4 ± 0.3 µas/day (10.2 ± 2.2 c), rotates clockwise at approximately 2.5◦ per day. Previous studies inferred helical magnetic fields in AGN jets from time-resolved or integrated polarization variability but lacked the angular resolution to directly image this effect. Our results provide spatially resolved evidence that a helical magnetic field threads the jet’s collimation and acceleration zone, ruling out models based on the superposition of unresolved components. Our analysis suggests that propagating shocks interact with a Kelvin-Helmholtz plasma instability, illuminating different phases of the helical magnetic field and producing the observed polarization spatial and temporal variability. Moreover, our model naturally accounts for the more rapid polarization rotation observed in the faster moving component. Our model predicts even more rapid swings in polarization, which could be tested with future observations featuring a more densely sampled time coverage.
instabilities
techniques: interferometric
galaxies: active
black hole physics
galaxies: individual: OJ 287
radiation mechanisms: non-thermal
Författare
J. L. Gomez
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
I. Cho
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
E. Traianou
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
T.P. Krichbaum
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
G. Y. Zhao
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
R. Lico
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Antonio Fuentes
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Marianna Foschi
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Rohan Dahale
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Boris Georgiev
University of Arizona
Kotaro Moriyama
Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main
M. Wielgus
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
R. Gold
Universität Heidelberg
Dominic W. Pesce
Harvard University
Hendrik Müller
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
S.G. Jorstad
Boston University
Teresa Toscano
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
J. Röder
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
José M. Martí
Universitat de Valencia
M. Perucho
Universitat de Valencia
Yuri Y. Kovalev
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
S. Komossa
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Achamveedu Gopakumar
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
M. J. Valtonen
Tuorla Observatory
Gabriele Bruni
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
S. Chandra
Physical Research Laboratory
Kazunori Akiyama
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
E. Albentosa-Ruiz
Universitat de Valencia
Antxon Alberdi
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Walter Alef
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Juan-Carlos Algaba
University of Malaya
Richard Anantua
Harvard University
K. Asada
Academia Sinica
R. Azulay
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
U. Bach
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
A. K. Baczko
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
David Ball
University of Arizona
Mislav Baloković
Yale University
Bidisha Bandyopadhyay
Universidad de Concepción
John Barrett
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
M. Bauböck
Grainger College of Engineering
Bradford A. Benson
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Dan Bintley
East Asian Observatory
Lindy Blackburn
Harvard University
R. Blundell
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
K. L. Bouman
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
G. C. Bower
East Asian Observatory
M. Bremer
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Roger Brissenden
Harvard University
Silke Britzen
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Avery E. Broderick
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
D. Broguière
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Thomas Bronzwaer
Radboud Universiteit
Sandra Bustamente
University of Massachusetts
Douglas Ferreira Carlos
Universidade de Sao Paulo (USP)
J. E. Carlstrom
University of Chicago
A. Chael
Princeton University
Chi Kwan Chan
University of Arizona
Dominic O. Chang
Harvard University
Koushik Chatterjee
Harvard University
S. Chatterjee
Cornell University
Ming Tang Chen
Academia Sinica
Yongjun Chen
Chinese Academy of Sciences
X. P. Cheng
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
Pierre Christian
WattTime
Nicholas S. Conroy
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
John Conway
Chalmers, Rymd-, geo- och miljövetenskap, Onsala rymdobservatorium
Thomas M. Crawford
University of Chicago
G. Crew
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Alejandro Cruz-Osorio
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Yuzhu Cui
Huazhong Normal University
Brandon Curd
Harvard University
Jordy Davelaar
Princeton University
Mariafelicia De Laurentis
Universita degli Studi di Napoli Federico II
R. P. Deane
University of Witwatersrand
Jessica Dempsey
East Asian Observatory
Gregory Desvignes
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Jason Dexter
JILA
Vedant Dhruv
Grainger College of Engineering
Indu K. Dihingia
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
S. Doeleman
Harvard University
Sergio A. Dzib
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Ralph P. Eatough
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Joseph R. Farah
Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network
V. Fish
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
E. Fomalont
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
H.D. Falcke
University of Arizona
H.D. Falcke
Radboud Universiteit
R. Fraga-Encinas
Radboud Universiteit
William T. Freeman
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
P. Friberg
East Asian Observatory
Christian M. Fromm
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Peter Galison
Harvard University
Charles F. Gammie
Grainger College of Engineering
Roberto Garcia
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Olivier Gentaz
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Gertie Geertsema
Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute
C. Goddi
Universidade de Sao Paulo (USP)
Arturo I. Gómez-Ruiz
Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrońica
Minfeng Gu
Chinese Academy of Sciences
K. Hada
University of Tokyo
Daryl Haggard
McGill University
R. Hesper
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Dirk Heumann
University of Arizona
Luis C. Ho
Beijing University of Technology
P. T. P. Ho
Academia Sinica
Mareki Honma
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Chih Wei L. Huang
Academia Sinica
Lei Huang
Chinese Academy of Sciences
D. Hughes
Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrońica
Shiro Ikeda
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
C. M. V. Impellizzeri
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Makoto Inoue
Academia Sinica
S. Issaoun
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
David J. James
ASTRAVEO
Buell T. Jannuzi
University of Arizona
Michael Janssen
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Britton Jeter
Academia Sinica
Wu Jiang
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Alejandra Jimenez-Rosales
Radboud Universiteit
Michael D. Johnson
Harvard University
Adam C. Jones
University of Chicago
Abhishek V. Joshi
Grainger College of Engineering
Taehyun Jung
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
R. Karuppusamy
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Tomohisa Kawashima
University of Tokyo
G. Keating
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
M. M. Kettenis
Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)
Dong-Jin Kim
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
Jae-Young Kim
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Jongsoo Kim
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
M. Kino
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Jun Yi Koay
Academia Sinica
Prashant Kocherlakota
Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main
Yutaro Kofuji
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Patrick M. Koch
Academia Sinica
Shoko Koyama
Academia Sinica
C. Kramer
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Joana A. Kramer
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Junhan Kim
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Junhan Kim
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
Sang Sung Lee
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
Aviad Levis
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Zhiyuan Li
Nanjing University
Greg Lindahl
Academia Sinica
Greg Lindahl
Common Crawl Foundation
Michael Lindqvist
Chalmers, Rymd-, geo- och miljövetenskap, Onsala rymdobservatorium
Mikhail Lisakov
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso
Jun Liu
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Kuo Liu
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Elisabetta Liuzzo
Istituto di Radioastronomia
Wen-Ping Lo
Academia Sinica
A. P. Lobanov
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
L. Loinard
Harvard University
Colin Lonsdale
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Amy E. Lowitz
University of Arizona
R.S. Lu
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
N. R. Macdonald
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Jirong Mao
Yunnan Observatories
Nicola Marchili
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
S. Markoff
Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy
D. P. Marrone
University of Arizona
A. Marscher
Boston University
Ivan Marti-Vidal
Universitat de Valencia
S. Matsushita
Academia Sinica
Lynn D. Matthews
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Lia Medeiros
Princeton University
K. Menten
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Izumi Mizuno
East Asian Observatory
Yosuke Mizuno
Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main
Joshua Montgomery
University of Chicago
James M. Moran
Harvard University
M. Mościbrodzka
Radboud Universiteit
Wanga Mulaudzi
Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy
C. Müller
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
A. Mus
Universita degli Studi di Cagliari
Gibwa Musoke
Radboud Universiteit
I. Myserlis
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
H. Nagai
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
N. M. Nagar
Universidad de Concepción
Dhanya G. Nair
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Masanori Nakamura
Academia Sinica
Gopal Narayanan
University of Massachusetts
Iniyan Natarajan
Harvard University
Antonios Nathanail
Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main
Santiago Navarro Fuentes
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Joseph Neilsen
Villanova University
Chunchong Ni
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Michael A. Nowak
Washington University in St. Louis
Junghwan Oh
Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)
Hiroki Okino
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Héctor Olivares
Centre For Research And Development In Mathematics And Applications (CIDMA)
Tomoaki Oyama
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Feryal Özel
Georgia Institute of Technology
Daniel C.M. Palumbo
Harvard University
Georgios Filippos Paraschos
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Jongho Park
Academia Sinica
Harriet Parsons
East Asian Observatory
N. Patel
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
U. L. Pen
Academia Sinica
Vincent Piétu
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Aleksandar PopStefanija
University of Massachusetts
Oliver Porth
Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main
Ben Prather
Grainger College of Engineering
G. Principe
Istituto di Radioastronomia
Dimitrios Psaltis
Georgia Institute of Technology
Hung-Yi Pu
Academia Sinica
Venkatessh Ramakrishnan
Universidad de Concepción
R. Rao
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
M.G. Rawlings
East Asian Observatory
Luciano Rezzolla
Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main
Angelo Ricarte
Harvard University
Bart Ripperda
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Freek Roelofs
Radboud Universiteit
C. Romero-Cañizales
Academia Sinica
Eduardo Ros
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Arash Roshanineshat
University of Arizona
H. Rottmann
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
A. Roy
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Ignacio Ruiz
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
C. Ruszczyk
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Kazi L.J. Rygl
Istituto di Radioastronomia
S. Sanchez
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
David Sánchez-Arguelles
Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrońica
M. Sánchez Portal
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Mahito Sasada
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Kaushik Satapathy
University of Arizona
Saurabh
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
T. Savolainen
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
F. P. Schloerb
University of Massachusetts
Jonathan Schonfeld
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
K. Schuster
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Lijing Shao
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Zhi Qiang Shen
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Sasikumar Silpa
Universidad de Concepción
Des Small
Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)
B. W. Sohn
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
J. SooHoo
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
León David Sosapanta Salas
Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy
Kamal Souccar
University of Massachusetts
Joshua S. Stanway
University of Central Lancashire
He Sun
Beijing University of Technology
Fumie Tazaki
Tokyo Electron Technology Solutions Limited
Alexandra J. Tetarenko
University of Lethbridge
Paul Tiede
Harvard University
R. P. J. Tilanus
University of Arizona
M. Titus
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Kenji Toma
Tohoku University
Pablo Torne
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Tyler Trent
University of Arizona
S. Trippe
Seoul National University
Matthew Turk
University of Illinois
I. van Bemmel
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
H. J. van Langevelde
Universiteit Leiden
Daniel R. van Rossum
Radboud Universiteit
Jesse Vos
Radboud Universiteit
Jan Wagner
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
D. Ward-Thompson
University of Central Lancashire
John Wardle
Brandeis University
Jasmin E. Washington
University of Arizona
J. Weintroub
Harvard University
Robert Wharton
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
K. Wiik
Turun Yliopisto
Gunther Witzel
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Michael F. Wondrak
Radboud Universiteit
George N. Wong
Princeton University
Qingwen Wu
Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Nitika Yadlapalli
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Paul Yamaguchi
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Aristomenis Yfantis
Radboud Universiteit
Doosoo Yoon
Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy
A. Young
Radboud Universiteit
Ziri Younsi
Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main
Wei Yu
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Feng Yuan
Fudan University
Ye-Fei Yuan
University of Science and Technology of China
Ai Ling Zeng
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
A.J. Zensus
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Shuo Zhang
Michigan State University
Shan-Shan Zhao
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Astronomy and Astrophysics
0004-6361 (ISSN) 1432-0746 (eISSN)
Vol. 705 A23Onsala rymdobservatorium infrastruktur
Vetenskapsrådet (VR) (2017-00648), 2018-01-01 -- 2021-12-31.
RadioNet 4
Europeiska kommissionen (EU) (EC/H2020/730562), 2017-01-01 -- 2020-12-31.
Ämneskategorier (SSIF 2025)
Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi
DOI
10.1051/0004-6361/202555831