The power of relativistic jets is larger than the luminosity of their accretion disks

ABSTRACT Theoretical models for the production of relativistic jets from active galactic nuclei predict that jet power arises from the spin and mass of the central supermassive black hole,

as well as from the magnetic field near the event horizon1. The physical mechanism underlying the contribution from the magnetic field is the torque exerted on the rotating black hole by the

field amplified by the accreting material. If the squared magnetic field is proportional to the accretion rate, then there will be a correlation between jet power and accretion luminosity.

There is evidence for such a correlation2,3,4,5,6,7,8, but inadequate knowledge of the accretion luminosity of the limited and inhomogeneous samples used prevented a firm conclusion. Here we

report an analysis of archival observations of a sample of blazars (quasars whose jets point towards Earth) that overcomes previous limitations. We find a clear correlation between jet

power, as measured through the γ-ray luminosity, and accretion luminosity, as measured by the broad emission lines, with the jet power dominating the disk luminosity, in agreement with

numerical simulations9. This implies that the magnetic field threading the black hole horizon reaches the maximum value sustainable by the accreting matter10. Access through your institution

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OTHERS POWERFUL EXTRAGALACTIC JETS DISSIPATE THEIR KINETIC ENERGY FAR FROM THE CENTRAL BLACK HOLE Article Open access 30 October 2020 A BLAZAR IN THE EPOCH OF REIONIZATION Article Open

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ADS  CAS  Google Scholar  Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS F.T. and L.M. acknowledge partial funding through a PRIN–INAF 2011 grant. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS *

Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica – Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via E. Bianchi 46, I–23807 Merate, Italy , G. Ghisellini, F. Tavecchio, L. Maraschi, A. Celotti & T. Sbarrato *

Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica – Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via E. Brera 28, I–20121 Milano, Italy , L. Maraschi * Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, Via Bonomea

265, I–34135 Trieste, Italy , A. Celotti * Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare – Sezione di Trieste, Via Valerio 2, I-34127 Trieste, Italy , A. Celotti * Dipartimento di Fisica e

Matematica, Università dell’Insubria, Via Valleggio 11, I–22100 Como, Italy, T. Sbarrato * European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2, 8578 Garching bei München, Germany ,

T. Sbarrato Authors * G. Ghisellini View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * F. Tavecchio View author publications You can also search for this

author inPubMed Google Scholar * L. Maraschi View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * A. Celotti View author publications You can also search

for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * T. Sbarrato View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS G.G. wrote the manuscript and fitted

all blazars presented. F.T., L.M., A.C. and T.S. contributed to the discussion of the implications of the results. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to G. Ghisellini. ETHICS DECLARATIONS

COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing financial interests. EXTENDED DATA FIGURES AND TABLES EXTENDED DATA FIGURE 1 JET POWER VERSUS RADIATIVE JET POWER. We compare the total

jet power and the radiative jet power for the blazars in our sample. The grey lines, as labelled, respectively correspond to equality and to _P_jet equal to 10-fold and 100-fold _P_rad. Same

symbols as in Fig. 1. The average error bar is indicated. EXTENDED DATA FIGURE 2 DISTRIBUTION OF RELEVANT QUANTITIES. A, Normalized redshift distribution for FSRQs (light hatching) and BL 

Lacs (heavy hatching) in our sample. B, Normalized distribution of the ratio log(_L_disk/_L_Edd) for FSRQs in our sample. The black hole mass is the virial mass, calculated on the basis of

the width of the broad lines12, compared with a log-normal distribution having a width of _σ_ = 0.35 dex. C, Distribution of the bulk Lorentz factor. Hatching as in A. The plotted normal

distribution has a width of _σ_ = 1.4. D, Distribution of the ratio log(_P_jet/_L_disk) for our sources, including BL Lacs (hatching as in A). The shown log-normal distribution has a width

of _σ_ = 0.48 dex. EXTENDED DATA FIGURE 3 DISTRIBUTION OF JET POWERS. Jet power distribution for FSRQs (light hatching) and BL Lacs (heavy hatching) in our sample, compared with the disk

luminosity distribution as labelled: _P_p is the kinetic power of the (cold) protons, assuming one proton per emitting electron; _P_e is the power in relativistic emitting electrons; _P_B is

the jet Poynting flux; _P_rad is the power that the jet has spent in producing the observed radiation; _L_disk is the luminosity of the accretion disk. All distributions are fitted with a

log-normal distribution. The corresponding value of _σ_ (in dex) is reported. The average values of the distributions are 〈log(_L_disk)〉 = 45.5, 〈log(_P_rad)〉 = 45.3, 〈log(_P_B)〉 = 45.0,

〈log(_P_e)〉 = 44.4, 〈log(_P_p)〉 = 46.4 (units of luminosity and power are erg s−1). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTARY TABLE 1 This table contains relevant parameters of the blazars in

this study. Col. 1 and Col. 2: AR and Dec (J2000); Col. 3: redshift; Col. 4 – Col. 7: Logarithm of _P_rad, _P_e, _P_B, _P_p (powers in units of erg s1); Col. 8: bulk Lorentz factor; Col. 9:

viewing angle in degrees; Col. 10: Logarithm of the disk luminosity (in units of erg s1) as resulting from disk fitting; Col. 11: Logarithm of the disk luminosity (in units of erg s1) as

measured from the broad emission lines; Col. 12 – Col. 14: logarithm of the black hole mass (in units of the solar mass) estimated through the virial method12 using the H (Col. 12), MgII

(Col. 13) and CIV (Col. 14) broad emission lines. (XLSX 90 kb) POWERPOINT SLIDES POWERPOINT SLIDE FOR FIG. 1 POWERPOINT SLIDE FOR FIG. 2 RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT

THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Ghisellini, G., Tavecchio, F., Maraschi, L. _et al._ The power of relativistic jets is larger than the luminosity of their accretion disks. _Nature_ 515,

376–378 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13856 Download citation * Received: 25 April 2014 * Accepted: 11 September 2014 * Published: 19 November 2014 * Issue Date: 20 November 2014 *

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