GMVA17B-203

Understanding jet formation and testing the binary SMBH model in OJ287

Abstract

We propose 3 mm GMVA+ALMA observations of the BL Lac object OJ287, one of the best candidates for hosting a binary SMBH and to study jet formation in magnetically dominated AGN. The improvement in the north-south resolution and sensitivity provided by ALMA, and the comparison with quasi-simultaneous, resolution-matched 1.3 cm RadioAstron and 1 mm EHT+ALMA images will allow us to perform Faraday rotation synthesis and opacity analysis with an angular resolution of 30-40 microarseconds, a ~10-fold improvement with respect to previous studies. Comparison with a similar campaign scheduled for spring 2017 will allow us, for the first time, to study the magnetic field, Faraday screen, accretion rate, jet ridge line, and particle energy distribution evolution at scales not probed before in a blazar jet. This will be used to test the applicability of magnetically driven jet formation models and to test the binary SMBH scenario by comparing predictions from different models.

Investigators

Name	Institution
GBT Operator	Green Bank Observatory
Thomas Krichbaum	Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie
Andrei Lobanov	Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie
Alan Marscher	Boston University
Gabriele Bruni	Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica
Svetlana Jorstad	Boston University
Stefanie Komossa	Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie
Yuri Kovalev	Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie
Carolina Casadio	Andalucía, Instituto de Astrofísica de; Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie; Foundation for Research & Technology - Hellas
Jae-Young Kim	Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie; Kyungpook National University
Laura Vega-Garcia	Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie
Ivan Marti-Vidal	València, Universitat de
Jose L. Gomez *	Andalucía, Instituto de Astrofísica de
Ivan Agudo	Boston University; Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry European Research Infrastructure Consortium; Andalucía, Instituto de Astrofísica de; Andalucía, Instituto de Astrofísica de
Sol Molina	Andalucía, Instituto de Astrofísica de
Uwe Bach	Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie
Yosuke Mizuno	Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Frankfurt am Main, Goethe-Universität
Jos M. Mart	València, Universitat de
Manel Perucho	València, Universitat de
Eduardo Ros	Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie; València, Universitat de
Tony Zensus	National Radio Astronomy Observatory; Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie
Marshall Cohen	California Institute of Technology
Antonio Fuentes	Andalucía, Instituto de Astrofísica de
Kazunori Akiyama	Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Haystack Observatory
Jeffrey Hodgson	Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie; Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

* indicates the PI