RadioAstron Polarization KSP: Probing the innermost regions of blazar jets at tens of microarcseconds resolution
Abstract
RadioAstron provides the first true full-polarization capabilities for space VLBI observations on baselines longer than the Earth diameter. We present the results of our "Polarization" Key Science Program aimed to study the innermost regions of AGN jets and their magnetic fields at the highest angular resolutions achieved to date. Among our earlier results, we have successfully imaged the jet in BL Lac at an angular resolution of 21 microarcseconds, revealing a large scale helical magnetic field in the vicinity of the central black hole. Our quasi-simultaneous RadioAstron, Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), and GMVA observations of OJ287 reveal a highly twisted jet at an unprecedented angular resolution of 10 microarcseconds (26 Schwarzschild radii); these are analyzed in combination with our multiwavelength monitoring to test jet formation models and the supermassive binary black hole scenario proposed for this source.
- Publication:
-
42nd COSPAR Scientific Assembly
- Pub Date:
- July 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018cosp...42E1236G