Observations of the inner jet in NGC 1068 at 43 GHz

William D. Cotton (1) , Walter J. Jaffe (2) , Guy Perrin (3, 4) , Julien M. Woillez (5)

1 NRAO - National Radio Astronomy Observatory [Charlottesville]
2 Leiden Observatory
3 LESIA - Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique
4 Pôle Astronomie du LESIA
5 W. M. Keck Observatory

We present the results of observations of the AGN in the Seyfret galaxy NGC 1068 at 43 GHz (7 mm wavelength) with 50 mas resolution. The results are consistent with the claim of Gallimore et al. (2004) that the nuclear component is dominated by thermal emission. This adds to the growing body of evidence that this component is dominated by a hot inner region of the obscuring torus rather than the base of the radio jet. However, possible detection of linear polarization from this component suggests some emission from the synchrotron emitting jet or that the polarization arises from Thompson scattering of the thermal emission by the nuclear plasma.

Domaines: Astrophysique [astro-ph]; Planète et Univers [physics]

William D. Cotton, Walter J. Jaffe, Guy Perrin, Julien M. Woillez. Observations of the inner jet in NGC 1068 at 43 GHz. Astronomy and Astrophysics - A&A, 2008, 477, pp.517-520. ⟨10.1051/0004-6361:20078781⟩. ⟨hal-03796952⟩