| 1. |
- Kim, Jae-Young, et al.
(författare)
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Event Horizon Telescope imaging of the archetypal blazar 3C 279 at an extreme 20 microarcsecond resolution
- 2020
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 640
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 3C 279 is an archetypal blazar with a prominent radio jet that show broadband flux density variability across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. We use an ultra-high angular resolution technique - global Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) at 1.3mm (230 GHz) - to resolve the innermost jet of 3C 279 in order to study its fine-scale morphology close to the jet base where highly variable-ray emission is thought to originate, according to various models. The source was observed during four days in April 2017 with the Event Horizon Telescope at 230 GHz, including the phased Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, at an angular resolution of ∼20 μas (at a redshift of z = 0:536 this corresponds to ∼0:13 pc ∼ 1700 Schwarzschild radii with a black hole mass MBH = 8 × 108 M⊙). Imaging and model-fitting techniques were applied to the data to parameterize the fine-scale source structure and its variation.We find a multicomponent inner jet morphology with the northernmost component elongated perpendicular to the direction of the jet, as imaged at longer wavelengths. The elongated nuclear structure is consistent on all four observing days and across diffierent imaging methods and model-fitting techniques, and therefore appears robust. Owing to its compactness and brightness, we associate the northern nuclear structure as the VLBI "core". This morphology can be interpreted as either a broad resolved jet base or a spatially bent jet.We also find significant day-to-day variations in the closure phases, which appear most pronounced on the triangles with the longest baselines. Our analysis shows that this variation is related to a systematic change of the source structure. Two inner jet components move non-radially at apparent speeds of ∼15 c and ∼20 c (∼1:3 and ∼1:7 μas day-1, respectively), which more strongly supports the scenario of traveling shocks or instabilities in a bent, possibly rotating jet. The observed apparent speeds are also coincident with the 3C 279 large-scale jet kinematics observed at longer (cm) wavelengths, suggesting no significant jet acceleration between the 1.3mm core and the outer jet. The intrinsic brightness temperature of the jet components are ≤1010 K, a magnitude or more lower than typical values seen at ≥7mm wavelengths. The low brightness temperature and morphological complexity suggest that the core region of 3C 279 becomes optically thin at short (mm) wavelengths.
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| 2. |
- Suutarinen, A., et al.
(författare)
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CH abundance gradient in TMC-1
- 2011
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 531, s. A121-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aims. The aim of this study is to examine if the well-known chemical gradient in TMC-1 is reflected in the amount of rudimentaryforms of carbon available in the gas-phase. As a tracer we use the CH radical which is supposed to be well correlated with carbonatoms and simple hydrocarbon ions.Methods. We observed the 9-cm Λ-doubling lines of CH along the dense filament of TMC-1. The CH column densities were comparedwith the total H2 column densities derived using the 2MASS NIR data and previously published SCUBA maps and with OH columndensities derived using previous observations with Effelsberg. We also modelled the chemical evolution of TMC-1 adopting physicalconditions typical of dark clouds using the UMIST Database for Astrochemistry gas-phase reaction network to aid the interpretationof the observed OH/CH abundance ratios.Results. The CH column density has a clear peak in the vicinity of the cyanopolyyne maximum of TMC-1. The fractional CHabundance relative to H2 increases steadily from the northwestern end of the filament where it lies around 1.0 × 10−8, to the southeastwhere it reaches a value of 2.0 × 10−8. The OH and CH column densities are well correlated, and we obtained OH/CH abundanceratios of ∼16–20. These values are clearly larger than what has been measured recently in diffuse interstellar gas and is likely to berelated to C to CO conversion at higher densities. The good correlation between CH and OH can be explained by similar productionand destruction pathways. We suggest that the observed CH and OH abundance gradients are mainly due to enhanced abundances ina low-density envelope which becomes more prominent in the southeastern part and seems to continue beyond the dense filament.Conclusions. An extensive envelope probably signifies an early stage of dynamical evolution, and conforms with the detection of alarge CH abundance in the southeastern part of the cloud. The implied presence of other simple forms of carbon in the gas phase provides a natural explanation for the observation of "early-type" molecules in this region.
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