VLBA OBSERVATIONS OF SUB-PARSEC STRUCTURE IN Mrk 231: INTERACTION BETWEEN A RELATIVISTIC JET AND A BAL WIND

Abstract

We report on the first high frequency VLBI observations of the nearby broad absorption line quasar (BALQSO), Mrk 231. Three epochs of observations were achieved at 15 GHz and 22 GHz, two of these included 43 GHz observations as well. The nuclear radio source is resolved as a compact double. The core component experienced a strong flare in which the flux density at 22 GHz increased by > 150% (45 mJy) in three months. Theoretical models of the flare imply that the emission is likely enhanced by very strong Doppler boosting of a highly relativistic ejecta with a kinetic energy flux, Q ∼ 3 × 10 43 ergs/sec. Combining our data with two previous epochs of 15 GHz data, shows marginal evidence for the slow advance of the secondary component (located ≈ 0.97 pc from the core) over a 9.4 year span. We estimate that the long term time averaged kinetic energy flux of the secondary at Q ≈ 10 42 ergs/sec. Low frequency VLBA observations indicate that the secondary is seen through a shroud of free-free absorbing gas with an emission measure of ≈ 10 8 cm −6 pc. The steep spectrum secondary component appears to be a compact radio lobe that is associated with a working surface between the ram-pressure confined jet, and a dense medium that is likely to be the source of the free-free absorption. The properties of the dense gas are consistent with the temperatures, displacement from the nucleus and the column density of total hydrogen commonly associated with the BAL wind.

The Complete Ultraviolet Spectrum of the Archetypal “Wind-Dominated” Quasar MRK 231: Absorption and Emission From a High-Speed Dusty Nuclear Outflow

“…This is surprising since Mrk231 is formally a radio-quiet quasar, and more precisely, a BALQSO in which the radio jets are typically suppressed (although see Becker et al 1997). Given a time variability brightness temperature of T b = (12.4 ± 3.5)×10 12 K and the need to avoid the inverse Compton catastrophe (Marscher et al 1979;Ghosh & Punsly 2007), Reynolds et al (2009Reynolds et al ( , 2013 constrained the jet angle to be less than θ max = -+ 25.6 2.2 3.2 from the line of sight. This implies a nearly face-on view of the inner accretion disk, assuming the jet is directed along the rotation axis of the inner disk.…”

Herschel-PACS spectroscopic diagnostics of local ULIRGs: Conditions and kinematics in Markarian 231

“…In this first paper we present our initial results on Mrk 231, the most luminous of the local ULIRGs (L(8-1000 μm) = 3.2 × 10 12 L ) and a type 1, low-ionization broad absorption line (LoBAL) active galactic nucleus (AGN) at an adopted distance of 172 Mpc (z = 0.04217). Its central quasar is covered by a semi-transparent dusty shroud producing about 3.1 mag of extinction at 4400 Å (Reynolds et al 2009) and is at the center of a rotating, nearly face-on molecular disk (Downes & Solomon 1998). Based primarily on Spitzer results, Veilleux et al (2009) …”

Strong Molecular Hydrogen Emission and Kinematics of the Multiphase Gas in Radio Galaxies With Fast Jet-Driven Outflows

“…Starbursts (Rupke et al 2005), radiation pressure from the quasar (Feruglio et al 2010), and even mechanical interactions with the radio source (Reynolds et al 2009) have all been proposed.…”