2005/10/10 by Anderson Caproni, Zulema Abraham, Herman J. Mosquera Cuesta · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Active galactic nucleus #Angular momentum #Angular resolution (graph drawing) #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Black hole (networking) #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Jet (fluid) #Spin-flip #Supermassive black hole #Very Long Baseline Array #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/498684
published as Astrophys.J.638:120-124,2006 · 12 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal
arxiv created 2005/10/10 · openalex publication_date 2006/02/06 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
VLBA high spatial resolution observations of the disk structure of the active galactic nucleus (AGN) NGC 1068 have recently revealed that the kinematics and geometry of this AGN is well characterized by an outer disk of H 2 O maser emission having a compact milliarcsecond- (parsec-) scale structure, which is encircling a thin rotating inner disk surrounding a ~10 7 M ☉ compact mass, likely a black hole. A curious feature in this source is the occurrence of a misalignment between the inner and outer parts of the disk, with the galaxy's radio jet being orthogonal to the inner disk. We interpret this peculiar configuration as due to the Bardeen-Petterson effect, a general relativistic effect that warps an initially inclined (to the black hole equator) viscous disk and drives the angular momentum vector of its inner part into alignment with the rotating black hole spin. We estimate the timescale for both angular momenta to get aligned as a function of the spin parameter of the Kerr black hole. We also reproduce the shape of the parsec- and kiloparsec-scale jets, assuming a model in which the jet is precessing with a period and aperture angle that decrease exponentially with time, as expected from the Bardeen-Petterson effect.