MOTIONS OF THE COMPONENTS OF AGNS ACCORDING TO VLBI MOJAVE DATA AS INDICATORS OF THE ACTIVITY AND SPATIAL STRUCTURE OF THE JET

Abstract

The system of ten radio telescopes VLBA (Very Large Baseline Array), with a maximum baseline of about 8,600 km, of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory of the USA (NRAO USA) carries out systematic monitoring observations of about 500 active galactic nuclei (AGN), the results are presented in the MOJAVE database. The resulting angular resolution (~0.47 arcseconds at a frequency of 15.4 GHz) is enough to separate the close surroundings of the AGN and its jet. The results of corresponding observations make it possible to compare the features of movement in the jet with the processes of activity of the AGN, as well as to study its spatial structure. The MOJAVE database contains the spectral densities of the radio fluxes of the AGN, radio images for each epoch of observations at the frequency of 15.4 GHz, and "Separation jet" diagrams (showing the angular separation of the jet components over time). This information makes it possible to study the movement of these components. In this work, a general analysis of movement patterns of the components of the 3C 273 jet was performed. In the published papers of the MOJAVE team, a similar analysis wasn’t presented for all jet’s features.