Joint Astrophysical Colloquium
Testing jet formation in a larger sample of radio galaxies
Bia Boccardi (MPIfR)
Thursday 31/10/2019 @ 11:30, Sala IV piano Battiferro
In the recent years, radio galaxies proved to be the ideal targets for studies aimed at investigating the launching mechanism of relativistic jets. Inferring the intrinsic properties of the jet base through high-resolution radio observations is easier in misaligned objects than in blazars, due to the reduced impact of Doppler boosting and projection effects. So far, very-long-baseline interferometry studies of jet formation have been performed in selected nearby objects (mainly in M87, Cygnus A, and 3C84), and have provided important observational evidence in support of the magnetic launching models. In this talk, I will discuss the attempt to identify a larger sample of radio galaxies suited for such analyses, and I will present first results concerning the high-energy emission, the collimation properties, and the internal structure of the plasma flow in still unexplored sources down to scales of hundreds Schwarzschild radii.