https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/20136101004
The M87 Jet
“Rosetta Stone” of AGN Jets
Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, 11F of Astronomy-Mathematics Building, AS/NTU No 1, Sec 4, Roosevelt Rd., Taipei 10617, Taiwan
a e-mail: nakamura@asiaa.sinica.edu.tw
Published online: 9 December 2013
We investigate the structure and dynamics of the M87 jet based on multi-frequency VLBI observations and MHD jet theories. Millimeter VLBI cores are considered as innermost jet emissions. The jet structure up to ~ 105 rs is described as a parabolic streamline, indicating the lateral expansion under a confinement by the stratified ISM. Thus, the jet collimation maintains in five orders of magnitude in the distance starting from the vicinity of the supermassive black hole (SMBH), less than 10 rs. We here examine the jet parabolic structure in order to identify the property of a bulk acceleration; observed sub-to-superluminal motions indicate an MHD acceleration from non-relativistic to relativistic regimes. We propose that the M87 jet consists of Poynting-flux dominated flows, powered by nonlinear torsional Alfvén waves. Future sub-mm VLBI observations play an important role in resolving the origin of the M87 jets.
© Owned by the authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2013
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
