Resolving the inner JET structure of 1924-292 with the event horizon telescope

  • Ru Sen Lu
  • , Vincent L. Fish
  • , Jonathan Weintroub
  • , Sheperd S. Doeleman
  • , Geoffrey C. Bower
  • , Robert Freund
  • , Per Friberg
  • , Paul T.P. Ho
  • , Mareki Honma
  • , Makoto Inoue
  • , Thomas P. Krichbaum
  • , Daniel P. Marrone
  • , James M. Moran
  • , Tomoaki Oyama
  • , Richard Plambeck
  • , Rurik Primiani
  • , Zhi Qiang Shen
  • , Remo P.J. Tilanus
  • , Melvyn Wright
  • , Ken H. Young
  • Lucy M. Ziurys, J. Anton Zensus

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present the first 1.3mm (230GHz) very long baseline interferometry model image of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) jet using closure phase techniques with a four-element array. The model image of the quasar 1924-292 was obtained with four telescopes at three observatories: the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii, the Arizona Radio Observatory's Submillimeter Telescope in Arizona, and two telescopes of the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy in California in 2009 April. With the greatly improved resolution compared with previous observations and robust closure phase measurement, the inner jet structure of 1924-292 was spatially resolved. The inner jet extends to the northwest along a position angle of -53° at a distance of 0.38mas from the tentatively identified core, in agreement with the inner jet structure inferred from lower frequencies, and making a position angle difference of ∼80° with respect to the centimeter jet. The size of the compact core is 0.15pc with a brightness temperature of 1.2 × 10 11K. Compared with those measured at lower frequencies, the low brightness temperature may argue in favor of the decelerating jet model or particle-cascade models. The successful measurement of closure phase paves the way for imaging and time resolving Sgr A* and nearby AGNs with the Event Horizon Telescope.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numberL14
JournalAstrophysical Journal Letters
Volume757
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 20 2012

Keywords

  • galaxies: active
  • galaxies: jets
  • quasars: individual (1924-292)
  • radio continuum: general
  • techniques: high angular resolution
  • techniques: interferometric

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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