2004/10/04 by Jian-Min Wang, Bin Luo, Luis C. Ho · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Accretion (finance) #Accretion disc #Active galactic nucleus #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysical jet #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Black hole (networking) #Blazar #Kinetic energy #Quasar #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/426060
published as Astrophys.J. 615 (2004) L9-L12 · 4 pages in emulateapj5.sty; 1 figure; 1 table
openalex publication_date 2004/10/04 · arxiv created 2004/12/03 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
The properties of relativistic radio jets are thought to be closely connected with the properties of accretion disks in active galactic nuclei. We explore this issue using a sample of 35 blazars with very long baseline observations, for which we can estimate the kinetic powers of their relativistic jets, the bolometric luminosity of their accretion disks, and the masses of their black holes. Contrary to previous claims, we find that the jet kinetic power is significantly correlated with the disk luminosity. This supports the notion that the disk is somehow coupled to the jet, even on parsec scales. Moreover, we show that the correlation improves by including the black hole mass as a second parameter. The dominance of the jet, parameterized as the ratio of the jet kinetic power to the disk luminosity, is largely controlled by and is inversely correlated with the Eddington ratio of the accretion disk. This empirical relation should serve as a useful guide for theoretical models for jet formation.