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The power of relativistic jets is larger than the luminosity of their accretion disks

Nature volume 515, pages 376–378 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

Theoretical models for the production of relativistic jets from active galactic nuclei predict that jet power arises from the spin and mass of the central supermassive black hole, as well as from the magnetic field near the event horizon1. The physical mechanism underlying the contribution from the magnetic field is the torque exerted on the rotating black hole by the field amplified by the accreting material. If the squared magnetic field is proportional to the accretion rate, then there will be a correlation between jet power and accretion luminosity. There is evidence for such a correlation2,3,4,5,6,7,8, but inadequate knowledge of the accretion luminosity of the limited and inhomogeneous samples used prevented a firm conclusion. Here we report an analysis of archival observations of a sample of blazars (quasars whose jets point towards Earth) that overcomes previous limitations. We find a clear correlation between jet power, as measured through the γ-ray luminosity, and accretion luminosity, as measured by the broad emission lines, with the jet power dominating the disk luminosity, in agreement with numerical simulations9. This implies that the magnetic field threading the black hole horizon reaches the maximum value sustainable by the accreting matter10.

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Figure 1: Radiative jet power versus disk luminosity.
Figure 2: Jet power versus accretion power.

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Acknowledgements

F.T. and L.M. acknowledge partial funding through a PRIN–INAF 2011 grant.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica – Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via E. Bianchi 46, I–23807 Merate, Italy ,

    G. Ghisellini, F. Tavecchio, L. Maraschi, A. Celotti & T. Sbarrato

  2. Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica – Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via E. Brera 28, I–20121 Milano, Italy ,

    L. Maraschi

  3. Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, Via Bonomea 265, I–34135 Trieste, Italy ,

    A. Celotti

  4. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare – Sezione di Trieste, Via Valerio 2, I-34127 Trieste, Italy ,

    A. Celotti

  5. Dipartimento di Fisica e Matematica, Università dell’Insubria, Via Valleggio 11, I–22100 Como, Italy,

    T. Sbarrato

  6. European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2, 8578 Garching bei München, Germany ,

    T. Sbarrato

Authors
  1. G. Ghisellini
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Contributions

G.G. wrote the manuscript and fitted all blazars presented. F.T., L.M., A.C. and T.S. contributed to the discussion of the implications of the results.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to G. Ghisellini.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Extended data figures and tables

Extended Data Figure 1 Jet power versus radiative jet power.

We compare the total jet power and the radiative jet power for the blazars in our sample. The grey lines, as labelled, respectively correspond to equality and to Pjet equal to 10-fold and 100-fold Prad. Same symbols as in Fig. 1. The average error bar is indicated.

Extended Data Figure 2 Distribution of relevant quantities.

a, Normalized redshift distribution for FSRQs (light hatching) and BL Lacs (heavy hatching) in our sample. b, Normalized distribution of the ratio log(Ldisk/LEdd) for FSRQs in our sample. The black hole mass is the virial mass, calculated on the basis of the width of the broad lines12, compared with a log-normal distribution having a width of σ = 0.35 dex. c, Distribution of the bulk Lorentz factor. Hatching as in a. The plotted normal distribution has a width of σ = 1.4. d, Distribution of the ratio log(Pjet/Ldisk) for our sources, including BL Lacs (hatching as in a). The shown log-normal distribution has a width of σ = 0.48 dex.

Extended Data Figure 3 Distribution of jet powers.

Jet power distribution for FSRQs (light hatching) and BL Lacs (heavy hatching) in our sample, compared with the disk luminosity distribution as labelled: Pp is the kinetic power of the (cold) protons, assuming one proton per emitting electron; Pe is the power in relativistic emitting electrons; PB is the jet Poynting flux; Prad is the power that the jet has spent in producing the observed radiation; Ldisk is the luminosity of the accretion disk. All distributions are fitted with a log-normal distribution. The corresponding value of σ (in dex) is reported. The average values of the distributions are 〈log(Ldisk)〉 = 45.5, 〈log(Prad)〉 = 45.3, 〈log(PB)〉 = 45.0, 〈log(Pe)〉 = 44.4, 〈log(Pp)〉 = 46.4 (units of luminosity and power are erg s−1).

Supplementary information

Supplementary Table 1

This table contains relevant parameters of the blazars in this study. Col. 1 and Col. 2: AR and Dec (J2000); Col. 3: redshift; Col. 4 – Col. 7: Logarithm of Prad, Pe, PB, Pp (powers in units of erg s1); Col. 8: bulk Lorentz factor; Col. 9: viewing angle in degrees; Col. 10: Logarithm of the disk luminosity (in units of erg s1) as resulting from disk fitting; Col. 11: Logarithm of the disk luminosity (in units of erg s1) as measured from the broad emission lines; Col. 12 – Col. 14: logarithm of the black hole mass (in units of the solar mass) estimated through the virial method12 using the H (Col. 12), MgII (Col. 13) and CIV (Col. 14) broad emission lines. (XLSX 90 kb)

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Ghisellini, G., Tavecchio, F., Maraschi, L. et al. The power of relativistic jets is larger than the luminosity of their accretion disks. Nature 515, 376–378 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13856

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