STRUCTURE AND EMISSION OF COMPACT BLAZAR JETS

Abstract

Relativistic jets in blazars on parsec scales can now be explored with direct imaging at radio wavelengths as well as observations of time variability of flux and linear polarization at various wavebands. The results thus far suggest that the millimeter-wave "core" is usually a standing, conical shock and that the jet plasma is turbulent. Disturbances and turbulent plasma crossing the standing shock can explain much of the observed variability, as well as the appearance of bright knots moving down the jet at superluminal apparent speeds. The core, located parsecs downstream of the central engine, appears to be the site of many of the outbursts observed at optical, X-ray, and γ-ray energies. Rotations in the optical polarization position angle prior to the passage of a knot through the millimeter-wave core provide evidence for helical magnetic fields that accelerate and collimate the jet before turbulence tangles the fields.