4,167 research outputs found
Investigating the Effects of Finite Resolution on Observed Transverse Jet Profiles
Both the emission properties and evolution of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN)
radio jets are dependent on the magnetic fields that thread them. Faraday
Rotation gradients are a very important way of investigating these magnetic
fields, and can provide information on the orientation and structure of the
magnetic field in the immediate vicinity of the jet; for example, a toroidal or
helical field component should give rise to a systematic gradient in the
observed Faraday rotation across the jet, as well as characteristic intensity
and polarization profiles. However, real observed radio images have finite
resolution, usually expressed via convolution with a Gaussian beam whose size
corresponds to the central lobe of the point source response function. This
will tend to blur transverse structure in the jet profile, raising the question
of how well resolved a jet must be in the transverse direction in order to
reliably detect transverse structure associated with a helical jet magnetic
field. We present results of simulated intensity, polarization and Faraday
rotation images designed to directly and empirically investigate the effect of
finite resolution on observed transverse jet structures
Choreographic solution to the general relativistic three-body problem
We revisit the three-body problem in the framework of general relativity. The
Newtonian N-body problem admits choreographic solutions, where a solution is
called choreographic if every massive particles move periodically in a single
closed orbit. One is a stable figure-eight orbit for a three-body system, which
was found first by Moore (1993) and re-discovered with its existence proof by
Chenciner and Montgomery (2000). In general relativity, however, the periastron
shift prohibits a binary system from orbiting in a single closed curve.
Therefore, it is unclear whether general relativistic effects admit a
choreographic solution such as the figure eight. We carefully examine general
relativistic corrections to initial conditions so that an orbit for a
three-body system can be closed and a figure eight. This solution is still
choreographic. This illustration suggests that the general relativistic N-body
problem also may admit a certain class of choreographic solutions.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, text improved, accepted for publication in PR
Surprising Evolution of the Parsec-scale Faraday Rotation Gradients in the Jet of the BL Lac Object B1803+784
Several multi-frequency polarization studies have shown the presence of
systematic Faraday Rotation gradients across the parsec-scale jets of Active
Galactic Nuclei (AGN), taken to be due to the systematic variation of the
line-of-sight component of a helical magnetic (B) field across the jet. Other
studies have confirmed the presence and sense of these gradients in several
sources, thus providing evidence that these gradients persist over time and
over large distances from the core. However, we find surprising new evidence
for a reversal in the direction of the Faraday Rotation gradient across the jet
of B1803+784, for which multi-frequency polarization observations are available
at four epochs. At our three epochs and the epoch of Zavala & Taylor (2003), we
observe transverse Rotation Measure (RM) gradients across the jet, consistent
with the presence of a helical magnetic field wrapped around the jet. However,
we also observe a "flip" in the direction of the gradient between June 2000 and
August 2002. Although the origins of this phenomena are not entirely clear,
possibly explanations include (i) the sense of rotation of the central
supermassive black hole and accretion disc has remained the same, but the
dominant magnetic pole facing the Earth has changed from North to South; (ii) a
change in the direction of the azimuthal B field component as a result of
torsional oscillations of the jet; and (iii) a change in the relative
contributions to the observed rotation measures of the "inner" and "outer"
helical fields in a magnetic-tower model. Although we cannot entirely rule out
the possibility that the observed changes in the RM distribution are associated
instead with changes in the thermal-electron distribution in the vicinity of
the jet, we argue that this explanation is unlikely.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Concurrent 43 and 86 GHz Very Long Baseline Polarimetry of 3C273
We present sub-milliarcsecond resolution total intensity and linear
polarization VLBI images of 3C273, using concurrent 43 and 86 GHz data taken
with the Very Long Baseline Array in May 2002. The structure seen in the
innermost jet suggest that we have fortuitously caught the jet in the act of
changing direction. The polarization images confirm that the core is
unpolarized (fractional polarization m < 1 %) at 86 GHz, but also show well
ordered magnetic fields (m ~ 15 %) in the inner jet, at a projected distance of
2.3 pc from the core. In this strongly polarized region, the rotation measure
changes across the jet by 4.2 x 10^{4} rad m^{-2} over an angular width of
about 0.3 milliarcseconds. If the lack of polarization in the core is also
attributed to a Faraday screen, then a rotation measure dispersion > 5.2 x
10^{4} rad m^{-2} must be present in or in front of that region. These are
among the highest rotation measures reported so far in the nucleus of any
active galaxy or quasar, and must occur outside (but probably close to) the
radio emitting region. The transverse rotation measure gradient is in the same
sense as that observed by Asada et al and by Zavala and Taylor at greater core
distances. The magnitude of the transverse gradient decreases rapidly with
distance down the jet, and appears to be variable.Comment: 4 pages, LaTeX, 3 postscript figures, submitted to Astrophysical
Journal Letter
Separability of Rotational Effects on a Gravitational Lens
We derive the deflection angle up to due to a Kerr gravitational
lens with mass and specific angular momentum . It is known that at the
linear order in and the Kerr lens is observationally equivalent to the
Schwarzschild one because of the invariance under the global translation of the
center of the lens mass. We show, however, nonlinear couplings break the
degeneracy so that the rotational effect becomes in principle separable for
multiple images of a single source. Furthermore, it is distinguishable also for
each image of an extended source and/or a point source in orbital motion. In
practice, the correction at becomes for the
supermassive black hole in our galactic center. Hence, these nonlinear
gravitational lensing effects are too small to detect by near-future
observations.Comment: 12 pages (RevTeX); accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
On the jets, kinks, and spheromaks formed by a planar magnetized coaxial gun
Measurements of the various plasma configurations produced by a planar
magnetized coaxial gun provide insight into the magnetic topology evolution
resulting from magnetic helicity injection. Important features of the
experiments are a very simple coaxial gun design so that all observed
geometrical complexity is due to the intrinsic physical dynamics rather than
the source shape and use of a fast multiple-frame digital camera which provides
direct imaging of topologically complex shapes and dynamics. Three key
experimental findings were obtained: (1) formation of an axial collimated jet
[Hsu and Bellan, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 334, 257 (2002)] that is consistent
with a magnetohydrodynamic description of astrophysical jets, (2)
identification of the kink instability when this jet satisfies the
Kruskal-Shafranov limit, and (3) the nonlinear properties of the kink
instability providing a conversion of toroidal to poloidal flux as required for
spheromak formation by a coaxial magnetized source [Hsu and Bellan, Phys. Rev.
Lett. 90, 215002 (2003)]. A new interpretation is proposed for how the n=1
central column instability provides flux amplification during spheromak
formation and sustainment, and it is shown that jet collimation can occur
within one rotation of the background poloidal field.Comment: Physics of Plasmas (accepted
Gravitational wave forms for a three-body system in Lagrange's orbit: parameter determinations and a binary source test
Continuing work initiated in an earlier publication [Torigoe et al. Phys.
Rev. Lett. {\bf 102}, 251101 (2009)], gravitational wave forms for a three-body
system in Lagrange's orbit are considered especially in an analytic method.
First, we derive an expression of the three-body wave forms at the mass
quadrupole, octupole and current quadrupole orders. By using the expressions,
we solve a gravitational-wave {\it inverse} problem of determining the source
parameters to this particular configuration (three masses, a distance of the
source to an observer, and the orbital inclination angle to the line of sight)
through observations of the gravitational wave forms alone. For this purpose,
the chirp mass to a three-body system in the particular configuration is
expressed in terms of only the mass ratios by deleting initial angle positions.
We discuss also whether and how a binary source can be distinguished from a
three-body system in Lagrange's orbit or others.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures, 1 table; text improved, typos corrected;
accepted for publication in PR
The wave front set of oscillatory integrals with inhomogeneous phase function
A generalized notion of oscillatory integrals that allows for inhomogeneous
phase functions of arbitrary positive order is introduced. The wave front set
of the resulting distributions is characterized in a way that generalizes the
well-known result for phase functions that are homogeneous of order one.Comment: 12 pages, published versio
ALMA Science Verification Data: Millimeter Continuum Polarimetry of the Bright Radio Quasar 3C 286
We present full-polarization observations of the compact, steep-spectrum
radio quasar 3C~286 made with the ALMA at 1.3~mm. These are the first
full-polarization ALMA observations, which were obtained in the framework of
Science Verification. A bright core and a south-west component are detected in
the total intensity image, similar to previous centimeter images. Polarized
emission is also detected toward both components. The fractional polarization
of the core is about 17\%, this is higher than the fractional polarization at
centimeter wavelengths, suggesting that the magnetic field is even more ordered
in the millimeter radio core than it is further downstream in the jet. The
observed polarization position angle (or EVPA) in the core is
\,, which confirms the trend that the EVPA slowly increases
from centimeter to millimeter wavelengths. With the aid of multi-frequency VLBI
observations, we argue that this EVPA change is associated with the
frequency-dependent core position. We also report a serendipitous detection of
a sub-mJy source in the field of view, which is likely to be a submillimeter
galaxy.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, Accepted for publication in the Ap
Collinear solution to the general relativistic three-body problem
The three-body problem is reexamined in the framework of general relativity.
The Newtonian three-body problem admits Euler's collinear solution, where three
bodies move around the common center of mass with the same orbital period and
always line up. The solution is unstable. Hence it is unlikely that such a
simple configuration would exist owing to general relativistic forces dependent
not only on the masses but also on the velocity of each body. However, we show
that the collinear solution remains true with a correction to the spatial
separation between masses. Relativistic corrections to the Sun-Jupiter Lagrange
points L1, L2 and L3 are also evaluated.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in PR
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