5 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables; to be published in "Approaching Micro-Arcsecond Resolution with VSOP-2: Astrophysics and Technology", eds. Y.Hagiwara, E.Fomalont, M.Tsuboi, and Y.Murata
A review is given on the current status and selected results from large VLBI surveys of compact extragalactic radio sources made between 13 cm and 3 mm wavelengths and covering the entire sky. More than 4200 objects are observed and imaged with dynamic ranges from a hundred to several thousand at (sub)parsec scales. Implications to the VSOP-2 project are discussed.
In order to search for new VLBI sources in the Galactic plane that can be used as phase reference sources in differential VLBI, we have conducted 22 GHz observations of radio sources in the Galactic plane using the Japanese VLBI Network (J-Net). We have observed 267 VLBI source candidates selected from existing radio surveys and have detected 93 sources at the signal-to-noise ratio larger than 5. While 42 of the 93 detected sources had already been detected with VLBI at relatively lower frequency (typically 2 to 8 GHz), the remaining 51 are found to be new VLBI sources detected for the first t…
We discuss the advantages which the next generation interferometer SKA (the Square Kilometer Array) will bring for Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) at centimeter wavelengths. With a sensitivity to micro-Jy level flux density, a brightness temperature limit of about 10.000 K, and an expected dynamic range in future VLBI maps of better than 1.000.000, the impact of SKA on the research of compact extragalactic radio sources and their energetic jets will be very strong. We discuss some consequences, including a possible combination of SKA with future space VLBI missions.
We have a project to measure magnetic fields in the obscuring tori of AGNs. We observed five free-free absorbed jets in radio galaxies with polarimetric VLBI at 15 GHz to determine Faraday rotation measures. Surprisingly, all sources are unpolarized, putting severe constraints on the degree of magnetic field turbulence and the gas distribution in these objects. We have further carried out multi-frequency VLBI monitoring of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 3079 and find unusually steep and inverted spectra in the radio components, and derive general properties of Seyfert galaxies using published VLBI o…
We report on new developments in VLBI, with emphasis on experiments performed at the highest frequencies possible to date (so called mm-VLBI). We have observed the nucleus of M 87 (Virgo A) with global VLBI at 3 mm. We show a new image of the inner-most jet region with an angular resolution of approx. 300 x 60 micro-arcseconds. In terms of Schwarzschild radii, this leads to an upper limit of the jet base of approx. 100 x 20 Schwarzschild radii. We also report on two VLBI pilot-experiments, which demonstrate the technical feasibility of global VLBI at 150 and 230 GHz (2 mm and 1.3 mm). The expe…
We present an update of the parsec scale properties of the Bologna Complete Sample consisting of 95 radio sources from the B2 Catalog of Radio Sources and the Third Cambridge Revised Catalog (3CR), with z < 0.1. Thanks to recent new data we have now parsec scale images for 76 sources of the sample. Most of them show a one-sided jet structure but we find a higher fraction of two-sided sources in comparison with previous flux-limited VLBI surveys. A few peculiar sources are presented and discussed in more detail.
Compact radio cores in radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are classical targets of Very-Long-Baseline interferometric (VLBI) research. Until today little has been known about their X-ray properties in comparison to radio-quiet AGNs. Here, we present results from a systematic X-ray spectral survey of radio-loud AGNs. This study is based on a statistically complete sample of regularly monitored compact, extragalactic radio jets from the VLBA 2 cm Survey and makes use of high-quality X-ray spectroscopic data from the archives of the X-ray observatories ASCA, BeppoSax, CHANDRA, and XMM-Newto…
We present a new method to fit the variations of both coordinates of a VLBI component as a function of time, assuming that the nucleus of the radio source contains a binary black hole system (BBH system). The presence of a BBH system produces 2 perturbations of the trajectory of the ejected VLBI components. By using only the VLBI coordinates, the problem we have to solve reduces to an astrometric problem. Knowledge of the variations of the VLBI coordinates as a function of time contains the kinematical information, thus we are able to deduce the inclination angle of the source and the bulk Lor…
We summarize previous VLBI observations of Sgr A* at millimeter wavelengths and present new results from VLBI observations at 86 and at 215 GHz. At 86 GHz the measured closure phase is close to zero, consistent with a point-like or symmetric structure of 190 +/- 30 micro-arcsec size. At 215 GHz we have detected Sgr A* with a signal-to-noise ratio of 6. This yields a tentative size estimate of 50 < theta < 190 micro-arcsec, which is larger than the scattering size of 20 micro-arcsec at this frequency. The intrinsic size of Sgr A* thus appears to be a few up to a few ten Schwarzschild radii.
VLBI at millimeter wavelengths (mm-VLBI) allows the detailed imaging of compact galactic and extragalactic radio sources with micro-arcsecond scale resolution, unaccessible by other observing techniques. Here we discuss the scientific potential of mm-VLBI for present and future research on `Active Galactic Nuclei' (AGN) and their powerful relativistic jets. With the new generation of large radio telescopes and interferometer arrays operating in the millimeter radio bands (e.g. ALMA), the ultimate vicinity of super massive Black Holes, and eventually even their event horizon, could be imaged. W…
Many important techniques for investigating the properties of extragalactic radio sources, such as spectral-index and rotation-measure mapping, involve the comparison of images at two or more frequencies. In the case of radio interferometric data, this can be done by comparing the CLEAN maps obtained at the different frequencies. However, intrinsic differences in images due to the frequency dependence of the radio emission can be distorted by additional differences that arise due to source variability (if the data to be compared is obtained at different times), image misalignment, and the freq…
Millimeter-VLBI images probe as deep as never before the nuclei of AGN. Global 3mm-VLBI where the VLBA is combined with sensitive European stations, gives CLEAN maps of a quality, which never before was so good. VLBI at 147 GHz yields transatlantic fringes for the first time. Now it will become possible to study the relation between jet kinematics and spectral activity with a few ten micro-arcsecond resolution at the shortest wavelengths.
We have used the VLBA at 5 GHz to observe all galaxies with nuclear radio flux densities above 3.5 mJy found in a VLA survey at 15 GHz of a sample of nearby LINER galaxies. All galaxies were detected revealing high brightness temperature ($T_{b} \ga 10^8$ K) radio sources. Free-free emission is unlikely since it greatly overpredicts the soft X-ray luminosities. We infer the presence of AGN-like, non-thermal radio emission most likely powered by under-fed black holes. Together with our VLA sample we estimate from our observations that at least half of LINER galaxies host genuine AGN. We find no…
Infrared-Faint Radio Sources represent a new and unexpected class of object which is bright at radio wavelengths but unusually faint at infrared wavelengths. If, like most mJy radio sources, they were either conventional active or star-forming galaxies in the local Universe, we would expect them to be detectable at infrared wavelengths, and so their non-detection by the Spitzer Space Telescope is surprising. Here we report the detection of one of these sources using Very Long Baseline Interferometry, from which we conclude that the sources are driven by Active Galactic Nuclei. We suggest that …
The physical and kinematical conditions of the gas surrounding an active galactic nucleus (AGN) offer key diagnostics for understanding the processes occurring in the inner few kpc around the nucleus. Neutral hydrogen can give important insights on these regions. Apart from probing the presence of gas in relatively settled conditions (i.e. circumnuclear disks/tori) it can also trace the presence of extreme outflows. Some examples of these phenomena are briefly presented. For the study of the neutral hydrogen around AGN the high resolution offered by the VLBI is crucial in order to locate the r…
We study the most central regions of AGN jets with an angular resolution of tens of micro-arcseconds using VLBI at millimeter wavelengths (mm-VLBI). We present and discuss a new 86 GHz VLBI survey of compact radio sources. We show new high dynamic range images of two nearby radio galaxies (3C 120 and M87). In M87 the size of the compact VLBI core (the jet base) is < 15 Schwarzschild radii. Future mm-VLBI observations at 1 mm and shorter wavelengths should lead to images of galactic and extragalactic radio sources with a spatial resolution down to a few Schwarzschild radii of the central super …
Using the gaseous disk model and the condition for emission based on a stimulated origin of thermal radio emission (Prigara 2003), we received the wavelength dependence of polarization for radio emission from active galactic nuclei consistent with available observational data. The strength of magnetic field required to produce an observable degree of polarization in active galactic nuclei is discussed.
We have observed three Type 2 radio loud active galactic nuclei using the VLBA at five frequencies between 1.6 GHz and 15 GHz, in a search for the free-free absorption cutoff predicted by some models for optically-obscuring dusty molecular tori. We find no evidence for sharp cutoffs toward low frequencies in any of the sources. However, one source, OW637, has VLBI components which are steeply falling toward high frequencies (S_nu \propto nu^-2).
This article gives a brief overview of the direct and indirect evidence in support of the standard paradigm that active galactic nuclei are powered by supermassive black holes.
A small sample of 7 southern Compact Steep Spectrum (CSS) radio sources has been selected as part of the study of a larger flux-limited complete sample of radio sources. High resolution images, using the VLBI network in the southern hemisphere and the high resolution MERLIN array, are presented for all sources in the CSS sample. The overall morphology of each source consists of well-defined double lobes but with substantial diffuse and extended components present. In the majority of cases only a fraction of the total flux density is detected on the VLBI baselines, indicating the presence of la…
I review observational properties of low power radio loud AGN. High resolution VLBI observations allow the estimate of the jet velocity and orientation with respect to the line of sight and the determination of the Doppler factor. These data reveal rich structures, including two-sided jets and secondary components. New results on 1144+35, a giant radio source with superluminal motion are shown in detail.
We present preliminary results from a VLBI survey at $λ=6 $cm of a sample of 35 sources with flux densities of 2 - 100 mJy. These sources were selected from the VLA FIRST survey at $λ= 20 $cm, in a 3 degree field around the bright calibrator 1156+295, simply by imposing $S_{20} > 10 $ mJy and $θ< 5$ arcsec. MERLIN observations at $λ6 $cm detected 70/127 of these sources with a threshold of 2 mJy at 50 mas resolution and the closest 35 of these to the calibrator were observed with the VLBA+EVN in snapshot mode at $λ6 $cm. These sources are a mixture of flat and steep-spectrum sources and includ…
Hard X-ray emission is ubiquitous in accreting black holes, both in Galactic binary systems and in Active Galactic Nuclei. I review the different spectra which can be seen from these systems, and possible ways of producing this emission. X-ray reflection should give an observational test of these scenarios, but we need better models before this can give an unambiguous diagnostic of the accretion geometry.
It has long been suspected that Active Galactic Nuclei are powered by accretion of matter onto massive black holes and this belief implies their presence in the nuclei of most nearby galaxies as "relics" of past activity. Just a few years ago this was considered a paradigm but, recently, new ground-based and Hubble Space Telescope observations are producing a breakthrough in our knowledge on massive black holes. I will review the evidence for the existence of black holes in galactic nuclei and how their presence is related to host galaxy properties and AGN activity.
The pointing directions of extensive air showers observed at the Pierre Auger Observatory were fitted within 3.1 degree with positions of the nearby active galactic nuclei from the Veron-Cetty and P. Veron catalog. The cosmic ray luminosity of the active galactic nuclei which happened to be a source of the particular cosmic ray event constitutes a fraction ~0.0001 of the optical one if only cosmic ray particles with energies above 60 EeV are produced. If produced cosmic ray particles have a spectrum dE/E^3 up to ~100 GeV then the cosmic ray luminosity would be much higher than the optical one …
In November 1999 we carried out VLBI observations of several quasars and BL Lacertae objects at 1.66 GHz. Six antennas participated in the experiment (Bear Lakes, Svetloe, Pushchino, Noto, HartRAO, and Seshan). The results for six sources (0420+022, 0420-014, 1308+326, 1345+125, 1803+784, and DA193) are presented and discussed.
Many nearby galaxies contain optical signatures of nuclear activity in the form of LINER nuclei. LINERs may be the weakest and most common manifestation of the quasar phenomenon. The physical origin of this class of objects, however, has been ambiguous. I draw upon a number of recent observations to argue that a significant fraction of LINERs are low-luminosity active galactic nuclei.
Dust plays an essential role in the unification theory of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). This review summarizes our current understanding of the extinction and infrared emission properties of the circumnuclear dust in AGNs as well as the inferred dust composition and size distribution.
We study in detail the properties of the accreting corona model for active galactic nuclei and galactic black holes. In this model the fraction of the energy liberated in the corona at a given radius is calculated from the global parameters of the model (mass of the central object, accretion rate and viscosity parameter) and it appears to be a strong function of the radius. The model predicts the relative decrease of the coronal hard X-ray emission with an increase of the accretion rate. The presented description of disc/corona interaction forms a basis for further studies of disc disruption m…
Observations give strong support for the unification scheme of active galactic nuclei. The scheme is premised on toroidal obscuration of the central engine by dusty clouds that are individually very optically thick. These lectures summarize the torus properties, describe the handling and implications of its clumpy nature and present speculations about its dynamic origin.
Masses of black holes in nearby galactic nuclei can be measured in a variety of ways, using stellar and gaseous kinematics. Reliable black hole masses are known for several dozen objects, so that demographic questions can start to be addressed with some confidence. Prospects for the near future are discussed briefly.
The dynamical evidence for black holes (BHs) in galactic nuclei is reviewed, with emphasis on recent improvements in spatial resolution, methods for analyzing galaxy spectra and dynamical modeling. M31, M32 and M87 are discussed in some detail.
I review the status of observational determinations of central masses in nearby galactic nuclei. Results from a variety of techniques are summarized, including ground-based and space-based optical spectroscopy, radio VLBI measurements of luminous water vapor masers, and variability monitoring studies of active galactic nuclei. I will also discuss recent X-ray observations that indicate relativistic motions arising from the accretion disks of active nuclei. The existing evidence suggests that supermassive black holes are an integral component of galactic structure, at least in elliptical and bu…
Galactic nuclei often harbor a disproportionately large amount of star formation activity with respect to their surrounding disks. Not coincidentally, the density of molecular material in galactic nuclei is often also much greater than that in disks (Table 1 in Kennicutt 1998). The interplay between rich populations of young stars and dense molecular environments is evident in our own Galactic center, which hosts over 10% of Galactic star formation activity within only $<$0.1% of the volume of the Galactic disk. Data obtained with the VLA and HST reveal a variety of star forming sites in the G…
Recent works, both theoretical and observational, have suggested that turbulence could play a non-negligible role in the broadening of emission lines in active galactic nuclei. The purpose of this note is to show how shock wave-turbulence interaction, under unsteady regime, can affect the broadening of emission lines.
We discuss how several of the questions that remain unclear on the physics of Active Galactic Nuclei may find elements of answers when using in the coming years the extraordinary set of instruments that will be flying simultaneously to observe in all bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. The choice of questions mentioned here is personal and not exhaustive.
The masses of the central black holes of Active Galactic Nuclei estimated by the reverberation virial technique seem to be significantly smaller than predicted from the black hole mass-bulge luminosity relation for massive black holes detected by kinematic methods in less active and normal galaxies. We reexamine the relation for updated data and suggest a few reasons that may cause this discrepancy.
The analysis of eight EXOSAT X-ray lightcurves of six active galactic nuclei by nonlinear prediction methods indicates that the observed short time-scale variability is truly stochastic and is not caused by deterministic chaos. This result favors X-ray emission models with mutliple centers of production of hot, possibly relativistic electrons.
Reverberation mapping is a proven technique that is used to measure the size of the broad emission-line region and central black hole mass in active galactic nuclei. More ambitious reverberation mapping programs that are well within the capabilities of Hubble Space Telescope could allow us to determine the nature and flow of line-emitting gas in active nuclei and to assess accurately the systematic uncertainties in reverberation-based black hole mass measurements.
Motivated by the finding that the observed surface brightness profile of many galactic nuclei are well fit by double-power-laws, we explore a range of spherical self-consistent dynamical models with this light profile. We find that the corresponding deprojected volume density profile, phase space density and line-of-sight velocity distribution of these models are well fit by simple analytic approximations. We illustrate the application of these models by fitting a sample of about 25 galactic nuclei observed by Hubble Space Telescope. We give the derived volume density, phase space density, vel…
Observations of warm absorbers provided new ways to study the nuclear environments of AGNs. I discuss basic properties of warm absorbers and early developments with ROSAT, ASCA and HST observations. I briefly touch upon recent advances made with Chandra and FUSE.
The 2006 meeting in Xi'an on the Central Engine of Active Galactic Nuclei covered the enormous and continuously expanding area of AGN research, from theory to the most sophisticated observations and from gamma-ray energies to long radio wavelengths. This short summary gives some, but definitely not all, highlights and new results presented by the participants.
We present the general properties of the Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) and discuss the origin and structure of jets that are associated to a fraction of these objects. We then we address the problems of particle acceleration at highly relativistic energies and set limits on the luminosity of AGN jets for being origin of UHECRs.
A significant correlation between FeKalpha line energy and X-ray spectral slope has been discovered among radio-quiet active galactic nuclei. The ionization stage of the bulk of the FeKalpha emitting material is not the same in all active galactic nuclei and is related to the shape of the X-ray continua. Active galactic nuclei with a steep X-ray spectrum tend to have a fluorescence FeKalpha line from highly ionized material. In the narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies with steeper X-ray spectrum (Gamma_X > 2.1), the FeKalpha line originates from highly ionized material. In the Seyfert 1 galaxies and…
The Baldwin Effect, a negative correlation between emission-line equivalent width and luminosity in active galactic nuclei, is still of interest as a diagnostic of accretion physics nearly thirty years after its discovery. This review examines recent developments in the study of correlations between line and continuum emission in AGNs, as measured both in ensembles and in individual sources.
Recently Umemura, Fukue, & Mineshige (1997) proposed the radiative avalanche fueling to active galactic nuclei; gas accretion is driven by radiation drag exerted by stellar radiation from circumnuclear starburst regions. This mechanism is also interesting in terms of starburst-AGN connections. We therefore present observational tests for the radiative avalanche fueling. Our tests, however, show that gas accretion rates driven by the radiative avalanche are significantly lower than those expected from the standard accretion theory applied for typical active galactic nuclei with the circumnuclea…
The hypothesis that dark matter is converted into visible particles in active galactic nuclei is investigated. If dark matter consists of stable superheavy neutral particles and active galactic nuclei are rotating black holes, then, due to the Penrose process, superheavy particles can decay into unstable particles with larger mass, whose decay into quarks and leptons leads to events in cosmic rays observed by the Auger group. Similar processes of decay of superheavy particles of dark matter into visible matter occurred in the early Universe. Numerical estimates of the processes in active galac…
"Wave gravity" refers to a quantum-mechanical gravity theory introduced in two previous papers [1,2]. Although based on the optics of de Broglie waves instead of curved space-time, it agrees with the standard tests of general relativity. As in that theory, galactic nuclei are dark objects where gravity prevents the escape of most radiation. In this case, collapse is counteracted by rising internal pressure and black hole singularities don't occur. Unlike black holes, these nuclei can have internal magnetic fields, and high-energy plasma can escape along magnetic field lines closely aligned wit…
I discuss the possibility of production of high energy cosmic neutrinos (E \geq 10^{6} GeV) in cores of active galactic nuclei and study some of the effects of neutrino mixing on their subsequent propagation. I also discuss the prospects for observations of these high energy cosmic neutrinos in new km^{2} surface area underwater/ice neutrino telescopes.