Proposal code

w022

Proposal title

The Nuclear Jet in M87

The

Investigators and their

Affiliations

P.I. Mark J. Reid Harvard-Smithsonian CfA; USA
Lincoln J. Greenhill Harvard-Smithsonian CfA; USA
Alice L. Argon Harvard-Smithsonian CfA; USA
James M. Moran Harvard-Smithsonian CfA; USA

Proposal Abstract

M87 is the architypal extragalactic jet source. Global VLBI observations at 1.6 GHz reveal a complex, limb-brightened jet with sub-luminal motions. We propose to use HALCA to image the jet with significantly finer angular resolution than is available with Earth-bound VLBI arrays. We plan to image structures in the jet that are currently unresolved, determine why the ``pattern" speed of the jet appears slow (0.3c), and increase our understanding of the helical structures within the jet that may reflect (magneto-)hydrodynamic instabilities. A single-orbit observation during AO1 produced fringes out to the extremes of the HALCA orbit and yielded a very interesting map (Fig. 1a). During AO2, we will attempt to combine observations spaced by several months to greatly improve the (u,v)-coverage. The slow variation (<1 mas y^{-1}) of the jet may make this technique quite powerful.

The full Cover Sheets (compressed post-script, typically 50kbytes) can be retrieved. Note that many proposals were reduced in extent by the Scientific Review Committee (e.g. by reducing the number of experiments), however the Cover Sheets contain the full proposal as submitted. Also note that AO2 proposals were submitted in May 1998, and information such as affiliations and contact details has changed for some proposers since that time. The Cover Sheets (and the details on this page, which were derived from the Cover Sheets) may therefore have changed.