Parsec-Scale Radio Jets

Quasars and active galaxies are the most powerful emitters of radiation in the universe. Modern radio telescope arrays have shown that the ultimate energy source resides in the central few parsecs of the galactic nucleus, and powers the emitting regions by way of two oppositely-directed relativistic jets. This volume presents the latest observations and theories of these remarkable objects. Topics discussed include superluminal motions, the physics of jets and shock fronts in jets, related optical observations and cosmic evolution. Particular attention is given to the ‘unified theories’ which attempt to show that many of the phenomena in powerful extragalactic objects are different aspects of a single basic mechanism, the main difference in their appearance being due to their different orientations with respect to the observer. The book is based on papers presented at a workshop in October 1989 held at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Array Operations Center in Socorro, New Mexico, and attended by about 60 astronomers from around the world. It provides an up-to-date review of the subject and is supplemented with a comprehensive bibliography. It should serve as a useful introduction and reference for professional astronomers and graduate students whose research interests include active galactic nuclei, quasars, and astrophysical fluid dynamics.

Spis treści:
Preface
Acknowledgments
Workshop participants
1. Parsec-scale radio jets
2. VLBI observations of 3C 273
3. Linear polarization of 3C 273 on parsec scales
4. The compact radio jet in the quasar 3C 345
5. Recent evolution of jet components in 3C 345 at 3.6 cm
6. The jet in quasar 0836+71
7. Apparent proper motion in the quasar 1038+538 A
8. The Caltech survey of strong, highly variable sources
9. Variations in the structure of the QSS 2134+004
10. Detection of a new component in the peculiar superluminal quasar 4C 39.25
11. 4C 39.25, a twisted compact jet?
12. The jet in the nucleus of NGC 1275
13. Monitoring 3C 84 at 1.3 cm
1985–1987
14. Images of parsec-scale jets from 7 mm VLBI
15. VLBI observations at 100 GHz
16. The radio structure of BL lac nuclei
17. Parsec-scale linear-polarization properties of quasars, galaxies, and BL lacertae objects
18. Very weak cores of extended quasars
19. 3C 111 and 3C 390.3, beaming in nearby radio galaxies
20. Velocity structure of the M 87 jet, preliminary results
21. The milliarcsecond structure of the low-luminosity radio galaxy NGC 315
22. Active nuclei in nearby elliptical galaxies
23. The VLBI structure of Cyg X-3 during the 1985 October radio outburst
24. Kiloparsec-scale jets in CSS radio sources
25. High-quality images of the CSS quasar 3C 309.1
26. Compact triple radio sources
27. The dark side of radio jets in powerful extended sources
28. 3C 196, the jets that are not
29. Intraday variability of extragalactic radio sources
30. Sources showing apparent shock events
31. Flux variations and superluminal components in extragalactic radio sources
32. VLBI observations of steep-spectrum low-frequency variable sources
33. Interpretation of compact jet observations
34. What do we learn from modeling variability data?
35. Numerical modeling of born-again radio jets
36. Fluid dynamical structure and implications for superluminal motions
37. Numerical jet simulations and parsec-scale jets
38. Optical observations
39. Unified schemes and core-dominated radio sources
40. On the unification of quasar and radio galaxies
41. Beaming, unification, and H0
42. Significance of the small angles
43. Relativistic ejections from nuclei of galaxies, application to cosmology
44. Light echoes revisited
45. The effect of relativistic beaming on source counts
Summary, an outsiders view
Summary, an insiders view
Bibliography
Index of authors
Index of objects
Index of subjects.