BASS XXXII: Studying the Nuclear Millimeter-wave Continuum Emission of AGNs with ALMA at Scales ≲100-200 pc

0569162 - ASÚ 2023 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Kawamuro, T. … Total 28 authors
BASS XXXII: Studying the Nuclear Millimeter-wave Continuum Emission of AGNs with ALMA at Scales ≲100-200 pc.
Astrophysical Journal. Roč. 398, č. 1 (2022), č. článku 87. ISSN 0004-637X. E-ISSN 1538-4357
Research Infrastructure: EU-ARC.CZ II - 90106
Keywords : X-ray active galactic nuclei * active galactic nuclei * millimeter astronomy
OECD category: Astronomy (including astrophysics,space science)
Impact factor: 4.9, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Open access
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac8794

To understand the origin of nuclear (≲100 pc) millimeter-wave (mm-wave) continuum emission in active galactic nuclei (AGNs), we systematically analyzed subarcsecond resolution Band-6 (211-275 GHz) Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array data of 98 nearby AGNs (z < 0.05) from the 70 month Swift/BAT catalog. We find a significant correlation between 1.3 mm (230 GHz) and 14-150 keV luminosities. Its scatter is ≈0.36 dex, and the mm-wave emission may serve as a good proxy of the AGN luminosity, free of dust extinction up to N H ~ 1026 cm-2. While the mm-wave emission could be self-absorbed synchrotron radiation around the X-ray corona according to past works, we also discuss different possible origins of the mm-wave emission: AGN-related dust emission, outflow-driven shocks, and a small-scale (<200 pc) jet. The dust emission is unlikely to be dominant, as the mm-wave slope is generally flatter than expected. Also, due to no increase in the mm-wave luminosity with the Eddington ratio, a radiation-driven outflow model is possibly not the common mechanism. Furthermore, we find independence of the mm-wave luminosity on indicators of the inclination angle from the polar axis of the nuclear structure, which is inconsistent with a jet model whose luminosity depends only on the angle.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0340497