Magnetic field structures in the parsec-scale radio jets of blazars

Details Magnetic field structures in the parsec-scale radio jets of blazars Magnetic field structures in the parsec-scale radio jets of blazars

Aug 1999

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999phdt.........3a&link_type=abstract

Thesis (PhD). BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY, Source DAI-B 60/02, p. 681, Aug 1999, 280 pages.

Computer Science

3

Galactic Nuclei

Scientific paper

I have utilized the techniques of VLBI and VLBP to study the milli-arcsecond properties of active galactic nuclei. At these scales the central engines of the active galactic nuclei are probed, revealing two distinct groups determined by the orientations of the magnetic fields within the radio jets. Sources with strong emission lines are found to have primarily longitudinal magnetic fields in their jets while in weak-lined sources the magnetic field is transverse to the jet axis. The magnetic field, frozen into the fluid, provides a tracer of the direction and order of the motions that result. To study this phenomenon over a large sample, I observed 39 blazars with the VLBA at 5 GHz over two epochs to map their total intensity and linear polarization structures over time. Within this dissertation I present images of total intensity, linear polarization, and fractional polarization for each observed epoch on each source. Of the 39 sources, 9 are BL Lacertae objects, 25 are quasars, and 5 are on the borderline between BL Lacertae objects and quasars. I have found systematic differences between BL Lacertae objects and quasars in the strength and orientation of the core polarizations, and in the orientation of the magnetic fields in the jets. These differences might give insight into the environments of BL Lacertae objects and quasars. I chose four sources with particularly interesting radio features for deep polarization imaging with the VLBA. Of the four, my image of 1055+018 reveals a ``sheath'' of material on the outer surfaces of the jet. This sheath is visible because the magnetic field in this layer is nearly orthogonal to that within the jet. Observing the relative motion of the jet components and the sheath is a direct way to study the fluid dynamical processes that take place as this jet plows through the confining medium near the center of its host galaxy. The existence of both longitudinal and transverse magnetic fields at the same instant in the same source provides insight into current theories which attempt to unify BL Lacertae objects and quasars.

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