| Issue |
A&A
Volume 630, October 2019
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | A56 | |
| Number of page(s) | 7 | |
| Section | Extragalactic astronomy | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201834401 | |
| Published online | 23 September 2019 | |
Is there a non-stationary γ-ray emission zone 42 pc from the 3C 279 core?⋆
1
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, 53121 Bonn, Germany
e-mail: victorp@inaoep.mx, victorm.patinoa@gmail.com
2
Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica Óptica y Electrónica (INAOE), Apartado Postal 51 y 216, 72000 Puebla, Mexico
3
Institut für Experimentalphysik, Universität Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany
Received:
8
October
2018
Accepted:
12
July
2019
We investigate the relationship between the variable gamma-ray emission and jet properties in the blazar 3C 279 by combining the Fermi-LAT data spanning a period of eight years and concurrent radio measurements made at multiple epochs with VLBA at 15 and 43 GHz within the MOJAVE and VLBA-BU monitoring programmes. The aim of this paper is to compare the flux variability of the different components found in the VLBA observations, to the variability in the gamma-rays. This analysis helps us to investigate whether any of the jet components can be associated with the gamma-ray variability. Through Spearman rank correlation we found that the gamma-ray variability is correlated with a particular region (feature B in the MOJAVE images) downstream from the observed base (core) of the jet. This jet component is therefore a likely location where an important fraction of the variable gamma-ray emission is produced. We also calculated the average proper motion of the component with respect to the VLBA core and found that it moves at an apparent superluminal velocity of (3.70 ± 0.35)c, implying that one of the gamma-ray emission zones is not stationary. This jet component is also found between 6.86 mas and 8.68 mas, which translates to a distance from the radio core of at least 42 pc.
Key words: γ rays: galaxies / radiation mechanisms: non-thermal / quasars: individual: 3C 279 / galaxies: active / techniques: high angular resolution
Fluxes of the VLBA components and their simultaneous gamma-ray flux (Tables 2–5) are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/630/A56
© V. M. Patiño-Álvarez et al. 2019
Open Access article, published by EDP Sciences, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Open Access funding provided by Max Planck Society.
Current usage metrics show cumulative count of Article Views (full-text article views including HTML views, PDF and ePub downloads, according to the available data) and Abstracts Views on Vision4Press platform.
Data correspond to usage on the plateform after 2015. The current usage metrics is available 48-96 hours after online publication and is updated daily on week days.
Initial download of the metrics may take a while.