Interactions between the Jet and Disk Wind in Nearby Radio-intermediate Quasar III Zw 2

Ailing Wang, Tao An*, Shaoguang Guo, Prashanth Mohan, Wara Chamani, Willem A. Baan, Talvikki Hovatta, Heino Falcke, Tim J. Galvin, Natasha Hurley-Walker, Sumit Jaiswal, Anne Lahteenmaki, Baoqiang Lao, Weijia Lv, Merja Tornikoski, Yingkang Zhang

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)
63 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Disk winds and jets are ubiquitous in active galactic nuclei (AGN), and how these two components interact remains an open question. We study the radio properties of the radio-intermediate quasar III Zw 2. We detect two jet knots, J1 and J2, on parsec scales that move at a mildly apparent superluminal speed of 1.35c. Two gamma-ray flares were detected in III Zw 2 in 2009-2010, corresponding to the primary radio flare in late 2009 and the secondary radio flare in early 2010. The primary 2009 flare was found to be associated with the ejection of J2. The secondary 2010 flare occurred at a distance of similar to 0.3 pc from the central engine, probably resulting from the collision of the jet with the accretion disk wind. The variability characteristics of III Zw 2 (periodic radio flares, unstable periodicity, multiple quasiperiodic signals and the possible harmonic relations between them) can be explained by the global instabilities of the accretion disk. These instabilities originating from the outer part of the warped disk propagate inward and can lead to modulation of the accretion rate and consequent jet ejection. At the same time, the wobbling of the outer disk may also lead to oscillations of the boundary between the disk wind and the jet tunnel, resulting in changes in the jet-wind collision site. Object III Zw 2 is one of the few cases observed with jet-wind interactions, and the study in this paper is of general interest for gaining insight into the dynamic processes in the nuclear regions of AGN.

Original languageEnglish
Article number187
Number of pages18
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume944
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Feb 2023
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Interactions between the Jet and Disk Wind in Nearby Radio-intermediate Quasar III Zw 2'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this