EXPLORING THE CENTRAL SUB-PARSEC REGION OF THE γ-RAY BRIGHT RADIO GALAXY 3C 84 WITH VLBA AT 43 GHz IN THE PERIOD OF 2002-2008

Abstract

Following the discovery of a new radio component right before the GeV γ-ray detection since 2008 August by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, we present a detailed study of the kinematics and light curve on the central sub-parsec scale of 3C 84 using the archival Very Long Baseline Array 43 GHz data covering the period between 2002 January and 2008 November. We find that the new component C3, previously reported by the observations with the Very Long Baseline Interferometer Exploration of Radio Astrometry, was already formed in 2003. The flux density of C3 increases moderately until 2008, and then it becomes brighter rapidly after 2008. The radio core, C1, also shows a similar trend. The apparent speed of C3 with reference to the core C1 shows moderate acceleration from 0.10c to 0.47c between 2003 November and 2008 November, but is still sub-relativistic. We further try to fit the observed broadband spectrum by the one-zone synchrotron self-Compton model using the measured apparent speed of C3. The fit can reproduce the observed γ-ray emission, but does not agree with the observed radio spectral index between 22 and 43 GHz.