Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Significant Limb-Brightening In The Inner Parsec Of Markarian 501, Glenn Piner

Physics

We present three 43 GHz images and a single 86 GHz image of Markarian 501 from VLBA observations in 2005. The 86 GHz image shows a partially resolved core with a flux density of about 200 mJy and a size of about 300 Schwarzschild radii, similar to recent results by Giroletti et al. Extreme limb-brightening is found in the inner parsec of the jet in the 43 GHz images, providing strong observational support for a “spine–layer” structure at this distance from the core. The jet is well-resolved transverse to its axis, allowing Gaussian model components to be fit to each …