2005/12/15 by T. G. Arshakian, Arshakian, Tigran G., A. P. Lobanov +7
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #FOS: Physical sciences #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0512393
openalex publication_date 2005/12/15 · openalex created_date 2022/09/02 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The ``central engine'' of AGN is thought to be powered by accretion on a\ncentral nucleus believed to be a super-massive black hole. The localization and\nexact mechanism of the energy release in AGN are still not well understood. We\npresent observational evidence for the link between variability of the radio\nemission of the compact jet, optical and X-ray continua emission and ejections\nof new jet components in the radio galaxy 3C 390.3. The time delays between the\nlight curves of the individual jet components and the light curve of the\noptical continuum are estimated by using minimization methods and the discret\ncorrelation function. We find that the variations of the optical continuum are\ncorrelated with radio emission from a stationary feature in the jet. This\ncorrelation indicates that the source of variable non-thermal continuum\nradiation is located in the innermost part of the relativistic jet. We suggest\nthat the continuum emission from the jet and counterjet ionizes material in a\nsubrelativistic outflow surrounding the jet, which results in a formation of\ntwo conical regions with broad emission lines (in addition to the conventional\nbroad line region around the central nucleus) at a distance more or equal to\n0.4 parsecs from the central engine. Implications for modeling of the\nbroad-line regions are discussed.\n