The origin of radio emission from radio-quiet active galactic nuclei

Abstract

The central nuclei of galaxies, where supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are thought to reside, can experience phases of activity when they become active galactic nuclei (AGNs). An AGN can eject winds and jets and produce radiation across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. The fraction of the bolometric emission in the radio spans a factor of approximately 105 across the different classes of AGNs. The weakest radio sources, radio-quiet (RQ) AGNs, are typically 1,000 times fainter than the radio-loud (RL) AGNs, and represent the majority of the AGN population. In RQ AGNs, the absence of luminous jets allows us to probe radio emission from a wide range of possible mechanisms: star formation, AGN-driven wind, free-free emission from photoionized gas, low-power jets and the innermost accretion disk coronal activity. All these mechanisms can now be probed with unprecedented precision and spatial resolution, owing to the current and forthcoming generation of highly sensitive radio arrays. This article reviews radio emission mechanisms in radio-quiet active galactic nuclei (AGNs), from star formation and AGN winds, to free-free emission from photoionized gas and AGN disk coronal activity. These mechanisms can be probed by sensitive radio observatories.