Evidence for a large-scale helical magnetic field in the quasar 3C 454.3
Abstract
Most current theoretical models link the launching of relativistic jets from active galactic nuclei to the presence of twisted magnetic fields close to the supermassive black hole. While these models predict a large-scale, ordered, helical magnetic field near the central engine, it is not clear if, and to what extent, this order is preserved further downstream in the jet. Here, we present compelling evidence that suggests that the radio emission from the jet of the quasar 3C 454.3 exhibits multiple signatures of a large-scale, ordered helical magnetic field component at a distance of hundreds of parsecs from the launching point. Our results provide observational support for magnetic jet launching models and indicate that the ordered helical field component may remain stable over a large distance down the jet.
Additional Information
© 2013 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. Accepted 2013 September 24. Received 2013 September 23; in original form 2013 July 25. First published online: October 28, 2013. We would like to thank D. Homan, R. Porcas, M. Böck, J.A. Zensus and N. Sabha for their comments on the manuscript. We are grateful to M. Aller and H. Aller for providing data from the University of Michigan Radio Astronomy Observatory monitoring programme. We thank H. Wiesemeyer for providing 3 mm polarization measurements from the IRAM 30-m telescope. This research has made use of data from the MOJAVE data base that is maintained by the MOJAVE team (Lister et al. 2009). The MOJAVE project is supported under NASA Fermi grant 11-Fermi11-0019. This work made use of the VLBA, which is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. This work made use of the Swinburne University of Technology software correlator, developed as part of the Australian Major National Research Facilities Programme and operated under license (Deller et al. 2007). This research has made use of data from the University of Michigan Radio Astronomy Observatory which is supported by the National Science Foundation and by funds from the University of Michigan. Part of this work was done while MZ was supported by the German Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG, via grant SFB 956 project A2. TH was supported by the Jenny and Antti Wihuri foundation. YYK was partly supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (projects 11-02-00368 and 12-02-33101), Research Program OFN-17 of the Division of Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences and by the Dynasty Foundation. ABP was supported by the 'Non-stationary processes in the Universe' Program of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences.Attached Files
Published - MNRAS-2013-Zamaninasab-3341-56.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 43356
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20140114-103657735
- 11-Fermi11-0019
- NASA Fermi Grant
- NSF
- University of Michigan
- SFB 956 project A2
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
- Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation
- 11-02-00368
- Russian Foundation for Basic Research
- 12-02-33101
- Russian Foundation for Basic Research
- OFN-17
- Russian Academy of Sciences Division of Physics
- Dynasty Foundation
- Russian Academy of Sciences Program of the Presidium
- Created
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2014-01-29Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-10Created from EPrint's last_modified field