Proposal code

w078

Proposal title

Test of Magnetodynamic Jet Acceleration Mechanism

The

Investigators and their

Affiliations

P.I. MUKAWA, T. Science Univ. of Tokyo, Japan
UCHIDA, Y. Science Univ. of Tokyo, Japan
KAMENO, S. and HORIUCHI, S. National Astronomical Observatory, Japan
SHIBATA, K. National Astronomical Observatory, Japan
INOUE, M. National Astronomical Observatory, Japan

Proposal Abstract

Acceleration mechanism of jets from active galactic nuclei (AGN) is one of the most important questions. Based on a magnetodynamic acceleration model proposed by Uchida and Shibata (1985), large scale magnetic field is twisted by an accretion disk to form helical magnetic field, and the helical field squeezes jets. We propose to observe this helical field structure in the jets of AGN by means of Faraday rotation (RM). As the sign of RM changes with the direction of line of sight component of the field, RM distribution is expected to be asymmetrical with respect to the jet axis. This observation requests high resolution to get tangential distribution of RM across the jet axis, while low frequency to detect Faraday rotation for possible small RM. Only VSOP fulfills these requirements, and we select some sources with strongly polarized jets (3C120, 3C273, 3C279, and 3C345) for the first step of such kind of observations. These observations should also reveal fine structure of the field.

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.