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Jet and accretion-disk emission untangled in 3C 273
Paola Grandi1, Giorgio G C Palumbo
1Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche-Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Sezione di Bologna, Via Gobetti 101, I-40129, Bologna, Italy. grandi@bo.iasf.cnr.it
This study of active galactic nucleus 3C 273 reveals that jet power increases with energy. The nonthermal jet radiation typically overwhelms thermal accretion flow emission, except when an iron line becomes visible.
Area of Science:
- * Astrophysics
- * High-energy astrophysics
- * Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) research
Background:
- * Radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGN) are powered by supermassive black holes.
- * Understanding the interplay between jet and accretion flow radiation is crucial for AGN physics.
- * Previous studies often struggled to disentangle these two emission components.
Purpose of the Study:
- * To decouple the beamed nonthermal (jet) and unbeamed thermal (accretion flow) radiation from 3C 273.
- * To investigate the relationship between jet power and energy.
- * To determine the conditions under which the thermal component dominates.
Main Methods:
- * Long-term spectral variability analysis of 3C 273.
- * Utilization of data from the BeppoSAX satellite observatory.
- * Decoupling of radiation components based on spectral properties.
Main Results:
- * Jet power was found to increase with energy when compared to unbeamed radiation.
- * The nonthermal jet emission generally overwhelms the thermal accretion flow emission.
- * Thermal emission exceeded nonthermal by factors of 1.2–3 (2–10 keV) and up to 7 (>20 keV).
- * In one instance, the accretion flow dominated, revealing the K(alpha) iron line.
Conclusions:
- * The study successfully disentangled jet and accretion flow contributions in 3C 273.
- * Jet power is strongly correlated with energy in this radio-loud AGN.
- * The dominance of nonthermal emission highlights the powerful jet activity in most observed states.
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