Motivated by recent successes in linking the kinetic power of
relativistic jets in active galactic nuclei (AGN) to the
low-frequency, isotropic lobe emission, I have re-examined the blazar
and radio-loud AGN unification scheme through careful analysis of the
four parameters we believe to be fundamental in producing a particular
jet spectral energy distribution (SED): the kinetic power, accretion
power, accretion mode, and orientation. In particular, I have compiled
a multi-wavelength database for hundreds of jet SEDs in order to
characterize the jet spectrum by the synchrotron peak output, and have
conducted an analysis of the steep lobe emission in blazars in order
to determine the intrinsic jet power. This study of the link between
power and isotropic emission is likely to have a wider applicability
to other types or relativistic jet phenomena, such as
microquasars. Based on a well-characterized sample of over 200
sources, I suggest a new unification scheme for radio-loud AGN (Meyer
et al. 2011) which compliments evidence that a transition in jet
power at a few percent of the Eddington luminosity produces two types
of relativistic jet (Ghisellini, et al., 2009). The `broken power
sequence' addresses a series of recent findings severely at odds with
the previous unification scheme. This scheme makes many testable
predictions which will can be addressed with a larger body of data,
including a way to determine whether the coupling between accretion
and jet power is the currently presumed one-to-one correspondence, or
whether accretion power forms an upper bound, as very recent
observations suggest (Fernandes et al. 2011). This work is a first
step toward a unified understanding of the relativistic jets found in
radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGN) and their connection to
accretion onto the super-massive black holes from which they emanate.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:RICE/oai:scholarship.rice.edu:1911/71676 |
| Date | 24 July 2013 |
| Creators | Meyer, Eileen |
| Contributors | Fossati, Giovanni |
| Source Sets | Rice University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
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