Active zone of the nucleus of the quasar 3C 273

The superfine structure of the quasar 3C 273 has been investigated at wavelengths λ = 2 and 6 cm with angular resolutions up to φ = 20 μas for epochs 2005–2014. We have identified a nozzle and a bipolar outflow: a jet and a counterjet consisting of coaxial high- and low-velocity components. The separation between the nozzles in the plane of the sky is Δρ = 0.84 ± 0.16 pc; the flow ejection velocity is v ≤ 0.1c. The nozzle brightness temperature reaches T _b ≈ 45 × 10¹² K, φ = 20 μas, λ = 2 cm. The ejected electrons radiatively cool at a distance up to ≤4 pc. However, the jet afterglow is observed at a 8% level at a distance up to ρ ≈ 16 pc; the acceleration compensates for the radiative losses. The reduction in the emission level of the central flow at large distances determines the jet bifurcation. The counterjet shape is a mirror reflection of the initial part of the jet, suggesting a symmetry and identity of the ejected flows. The counterjet and jet nozzles are in the near and remote parts of the active region, respectively. The emission from the nozzles is absorbed by a factor of 2 and 15, respectively. The absorption decreases with increasing distance and the brightness of the jet fragments rises to its maximum at 0.5 pc from the nozzle. Arclike structures, arm fragments, are observed in the region of the nozzles. The relativistic plasma comes to the nozzles and is ejected. The brightness temperature of the arclike structures reaches 10% of the peak value, which is determined by the a smaller optical depth, the visibility in the transverse direction. The central high-velocity flow is surrounded by low-velocity components, hollow tubes being ejected as an excess angular momentum is accumulated. The remainder of the material flows along the arms toward the disk center until the next accumulation of an excess angular momentum and the process is repeated. The diameter of the outer nozzle is Ø = 25 pc and, further out, decreases exponentially; Ø _n ≈ 80 exp(?1.15n) pc. The flow kinematics, collimation, and acceleration have a vortical nature. Ring currents producing magnetic fields, which accelerate and stabilize the processes, are generated in the rotating flows (tubes). The tangential directions of the currents are observed as parallel chains of components.     

Ejector and bipolar outflow of the radio galaxy M87

The superfine structure of the jet formation region in the radio galaxy M87 has been investigated. An accretion disk and high- and low-velocity jet and counterjet components have been identified. The high-velocity bipolar outflow is ejected from the central disk region, a nozzle 4 mpc in diameter, while the low-velocity one is ejected from a ring 60 mpc in diameter and 14 mpc in width. The low-velocity plasma flow is a hollow tube with a built-in helix. The observed helical structure of the high-velocity jet is determined by precession. The components of the structure, its disk and bipolar outflow, suggest solid-body rotation. Ring currents and aligned magnetic fields are generated in them under the action of an external magnetic field. The bipolar outflows are ejected coaxially but in opposite directions—along and opposite to the disk field. As a result, the jet flow accelerates, while the counterjet one decelerates. This causes the extent of the region of radiative cooling of the ejected relativistic electrons in the counterjet to decrease and maintains their “afterglow” at large distances in the jet. The high collimation of the rotating flows is determined by their interaction with the environment.     

Structural peculiarities of the AGN object 1803+784

The structure of the AGN object 1803+784 has been investigated at a wavelength of 7 mm with a limiting angular resolution reaching 20 μas. The ejector nozzle surrounded by a ring structure, an accretion disk, has been identified. The nozzle size is ∼0.1 pc, the diameter of the ring structure is ∼1.4 pc, and its width is ∼0.25 pc. The reaction of the plasma flow produces a multimode precession responsible for the conical helical structure of the jet with a variable step and a curved axis. The viewing angle of the flow ejection is ∼40°. The central part of the ejected flow moving along the axis accelerates to a relativistic velocity. The apparent velocity reaches 12 s at a distance of ∼1 mas or ∼6 pc from the ejector. The outer part of the flow moves along a helix around a high-velocity component whose step is a factor of 4 smaller, because the longitudinal velocity is relatively low. The plasma is ejected almost toward the observer, as confirmed by its high brightness temperature T _b ≈ 8 × 10¹³ K and highly beamed emission. The polarized emission from the nozzle is axisymmetric. The orientation of the polarization of the flow along the whole length is aligned with the direction of its motion, suggesting the excitation of a ring magnetic field around it and self-focusing.     

Fine Structure of the Core of the Blazar OJ 287. III. Polarized Emission

This conclusive paper summarizes the results of our studies of the fine and superfine structure of the blazar OJ 287 at wavelengths of 7 mm and 2 cm in polarized emission with angular resolution is 20 μas. The orientation of the polarization of its fragments is almost orthogonal to the motion of the flows, suggesting that the magnetic field of the structures is oriented along the direction of the flow velocity. This is determined by the rotation of the flows—the excitation of ring currents and the generation of a solenoidal magnetic field, which applies both to the arms along which the surrounding matter is transferred to the center, the northern (m = 16%) and southern (m = 5%) ones, and to the ejected flows carrying away an excess angular momentum. The polarization level of the jet and counterjet flows reachesm = 15–20%and rises as one recedes fromthe nozzle due to a decrease in the optical depth of the fragments. The polarization level of the counterjet at the nozzle exit reaches 10%, while that of the jet is considerably lower. This is related to the location of the jet nozzle in the opposite direction relative to the observer, the influence of the screen. The special position refers to the nozzles. The polarization level is m - 2%. In the case of outbursts, the polarization increases with brightness, λ = 7 mm. At λ = 2 cm there is an inverse dependence. The spectral index of outbursts lies within the range α = 0–0.8.     

Absorption in the H(93–95)<Emphasis Type="Italic">α</Emphasis> and H(78–79)<Emphasis Type="Italic">α</Emphasis> recombination lines in the HII region of the quasar 3C 345

Absorption of the synchrotron emission of the quasar 3C 345 in the continuum and H(93–95)α and H(78–79)α radio recombination lines is studied. The upper limit for absorption in the H(93–95)α lines is T_al/T_ac < 0.7%; absorption in the H(78–79)α lines with antenna temperature T_al = 25 mK, linewidth Δf = 5.3 ± 0.08 MHz, and T_al/T_ac ≥ 0.3% has been detected. A correction to the redshift Δz = 0.00135 ± 0.00008 (z = 0.59365) has been determined.     

An accretion disk,a bipolar outflow,and an envelope—A structure that accompanies the formation of a protostar

We analyze the superfine structure of the supermaser H₂O emission region in Orion KL over the period 1979–1999. The angular resolution reached 0.1 mas, which corresponds to 0.045 AU at a distance to Orion KL of 450 pc. We determined the velocity of the local standard of rest, V_LSR = 7.65 km s^?1. The formation of a protostar is accompanied by a structure that consists of an accretion disk, a bipolar outflow, and a surrounding envelope. The disk is at the stage of separation into protoplanetary rings. The disk plane is warped like the brim of a hat. The disk is 27 AU in diameter and ～0.3 AU in thickness. The rings contain ice granules. Radiation and stellar wind sublimate and blow away the water molecules to form halos around the rings, maser rings. The radiation from the rings is concentrated in the azimuthal plane, and its directivity reaches 10^?3. The relative velocities of the rings located in the central part of the disk 15 AU in diameter correspond to rigid-body rotation, V_rot = ΩR. The rotation period is T ≈ 170 yr. The injector is surrounded by a toroidal structure 1.2 AU in diameter. The diameter of the injected flow does not exceed 0.05 AU. A highly collimated bipolar outflow with a diameter of ～0.1 AU is observed at a distance as large as 3 AU. Precession of the injector axis with a period of ～10 yr forms a spiral flow structure. The flow velocity is ～10 km s^?1. The kinetic energy of the accreting matter and the disk is assumed to be transferred to the bipolar outflow, causing the rotation velocity distribution of the rings to deviate from the Keplerian velocity. The surrounding envelope amplifies the emission from the structure at a velocity of 7.65 km s^?1 in a band of ～0.5 km s^?1 by more than two orders of magnitude, which determines the supermaser emission.     

Fine structure of the nucleus of the galaxy NGC 1275

The fine structure of the nucleus of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 1275 was investigated in 2005–2010 at a wavelength of 2 cm with a resolution as high as 50 μas. The structure consists of two parallel identical systems, eastern and western, spaced 0.5 pc apart in the plane of the sky. Each of them contains an ejector and a bipolar outflow. There are extended regions, lobes, at the extension of the bipolar outflows in the ?10° and 170° directions at distances of 5 pc northward and 6.5 pc southward of the active zone. The observed difference between the jet and counterjet sizes by a factor of ~3 and between the distances to the lobes by a factor of 0.8 is determined by the difference between their velocities and by the change of sign of the outflow acceleration in the period of silence. The high-velocity bipolar outflows are surrounded by three pairs of low-velocity components. The diameters of the low-velocity coaxial outflows and the third component are Ø₁ ≈ 0.3 pc, Ø₂ ≈ 0.8 pc, and Ø₃ ≈ 1.4 pc at the detection limit. The outer low-velocity components of the outflows encompass both high-velocity outflows. The velocities of the outflows and their brightness temperatures increase exponentially as the center of the high-velocity outflows is approached. The brightness temperatures of the high-velocity outflows at the ejector exit are T _b > 1012 K. The spectral line velocities in the nuclear region differ by ~600 km s^?1 due to the velocity difference between the two systems. In the case of Keplerian motion, the revolution period is ~5 × 10³ yr, and the mass of the central massive bodies, black holes, is M ≈ 10⁷M_⊙. The fine structure suggests a vortical nature of the formation. In the case under consideration, two parallel vortices spaced ~0.5 pc apart and shifted by ~0.5 pc relative to each other were formed. The surrounding material inflows onto the disk of each system, is transferred in a spiral to the center, and is ejected in the ?10° and 170° directions as an excess angular momentum is accumulated. The interaction with the surrounding medium accelerates and collimates the rotating outflows. The residual material falls to the forming central massive body, a black hole, whose gravitational field stabilizes and accelerates the system formation process.     

Fine core-jet structure of the galaxy M87

The fine core-jet structure of the radio galaxy M87 has been investigated in the millimeter-decimeter wave band. A counterjet whose extent is ρ(λ) ≈ 0.036λ pc, where the wavelength λ is expressed in centimeters, has been identified. At a wavelength of 2 cm, the brightness of the jet and counterjet decreases exponentially to the minimally detectable level. However, the decline for the jet slows down from a level of several percent of the peak value. The bipolar jet consists of a highly collimated relativistic plasma flow surrounded by a nonrelativistic low-velocity component. The low-velocity jet flow includes a helical component observable up to a distance of 20 mas or 1.6 pc. The reaction of the flow produces a multimode precession responsible for the helical shape of the relativistic jet with a variable pitch and a curved axis. The helical structures of the jet and counterjet are mirror reflections of each other relative to the ejector. The apparent size of the accretion disk seen edge-on reaches 1.5 mas or 0.12 pc.