MOJAVE - XIV. Shapes and opening angles of AGN jets

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openAccess

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Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä

Date

2017-07

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Mcode

Degree programme

Language

en

Pages

12
4992-5003

Series

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 468, issue 4

Abstract

We present 15 GHz stacked VLBA images of 373 jets associated with active galactic nuclei (AGNs) having at least five observing epochs within a 20 yr time interval 1994-2015 from the Monitoring Of Jets in Active galactic nuclei with VLBA Experiments (MOJAVE) programme and/or its precursor, the 2-cm VLBA Survey. These data are supplemented by 1.4 GHz single-epoch VLBA observations of 135 MOJAVE AGNs to probe larger scale jet structures. The typical jet geometry is found to be close to conical on scales from hundreds to thousands of parsecs, while a number of galaxies show quasi-parabolic streamlines on smaller scales. A true jet geometry in a considerable fraction of AGNs appears only after stacking epochs over several years. The jets with significant radial accelerated motion undergo more active collimation. We have analysed total intensity jet profiles transverse to the local jet ridgeline and derived both apparent and intrinsic opening angles of the flows, with medians of 21.5° and 1.3°, respectively. The Fermi LAT-detected gamma-ray AGNs in our sample have, on average, wider apparent and narrower intrinsic opening angle, and smaller viewing angle than non-LAT-detected AGNs. We have established a highly significant correlation between the apparent opening angle and gamma-ray luminosity, driven by Doppler beaming and projection effects.

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Keywords

galaxies: active, BL Lacertae objects: general, galaxies: jets, quasars: general

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Citation

Pushkarev, A B, Kovalev, Y Y, Lister, M L & Savolainen, T 2017, ' MOJAVE - XIV. Shapes and opening angles of AGN jets ', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 468, no. 4, pp. 4992-5003 . https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx854