Observational evidence for the link between the variable optical continuum and the subparsec-scale jet of the radio galaxy 3C 390.3

Abstract

The mechanism and the region of generation of variable continuum emission are poorly understood for radio-loud AGN because of a complexity of the nuclear region. High-resolution radio VLBI (very long baseline interferometry) observations allow zooming into a subparsec-scale region of the jet in the radio-loud galaxy 3C 390.3. We combined the radio VLBI and the optical data covering the time period of 14 years to look for a link between optical flares and parsec-scale jet. We identify two stationary and nine moving radio features in the innermost subparsec-scale region of the jet. All nine ejections are associated with optical flares. We found a significant correlation (at a confidence level of $>99.99%$) between the ejected jet components and optical continuum flares. The epochs at which the moving knots pass through the location of a stationary radio feature and the optical light curve reaches the maximum are correlated. The radio events follow the maxima of optical flares with the mean time delay of $0.10\pm0.04$ years. This correlation can be understood if the variable optical continuum emission is generated in the innermost part of the jet. A possible mechanism of the energy release is the ejection of knots of high-energy electrons that are accelerated in the jet flow and generate flares of synchrotron continuum emission in the wide range of frequencies from radio to X-ray bands. In this scenario, the beamed optical continuum emission from the jet and counterjet ionizes a gas in a subrelativistic outflow surrounding the jet, which results in a formation of two outflowing conical regions with broad emission lines (in addition to the conventional broad line region around the central nucleus).