Proposal code

w401

Proposal title

Structural variablity in the brightest AGN: AO 0235+164

The

Investigators and their

Affiliations

P.I. S. Frey F\"OMI SGO, Hungary
L.I. Gurvits, D.C. Gabuzda JIVE, The Netherlands
D.R. Altschuler, C.J.Salter, P. Perillat NAIC Arecibo, Puerto Rico
H.D. Aller, M.F. Aller U. Michigan RAO, USA
H. Hirabayashi ISAS, Japan
M.M. Davis SETI Institute, USA

Proposal Abstract

AO 0235+164 is a very compact, violently variable BL Lac object. Our earlier 5-GHz VSOP observation (v040b, 1 Feb 1999) revealed a compact core with the brightness temperature in excess of 5.8\times10^{13} K (the highest value measured with VSOP to date) and a weak extension on sub-mas scale. We request time to enhance the earlier VSOP result on this source. The high dynamic range, 1.6 and 5-GHz polarisation monitoring observations proposed here could reveal structural changes on time scales of 2 weeks and 6 months. Supporting ground-based monitoring observations are planned to investigate the connection between the possible sub-mas scale structural, total and polarized radio flux density, and spectral variations, exactly at the same epochs as of the VSOP observations proposed.

The full Cover Sheets (compressed post-script, typically 50kbytes) can be retrieved. Note that some 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 AO4 proposals were submitted in October 2000, and information such as affiliations and contact details has changed for some proposers since that time.