Evidence for helical B-fields in the jets of BL Lac objects
The parsec-scale radio jets of BL Lacertae objects imaged with Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) show a number of distinctive features. The most striking of these is the dominance of transverse magnetic fields on the wide range of scales probed by VLBI observations at frequencies from 43 to 5...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Conference item |
| Published: |
2002
|
| Summary: | The parsec-scale radio jets of BL Lacertae objects imaged with Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) show a number of distinctive features. The most striking of these is the dominance of transverse magnetic fields on the wide range of scales probed by VLBI observations at frequencies from 43 to 5 GHz. Some compact VLBI components with transverse fields axe undoubtedly relativistic shocks, in which the transverse field has been enhanced by compression. However, there is considerable evidence that we axe also detecting the toroidal component of an underlying helical magnetic field associated with the VLBI jet. |
|---|