Multiband RadioAstron space VLBI imaging of the jet in quasar S5 0836+710
Open Access article, published by EDP Sciences, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.-- Open Access funding provided by Max Planck Society. ; Context Detailed studies of relativistic jets in active galactic nuclei (AGN) require high-fidelity imaging at the highest possible resolution. This can be achieved using very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) at radio frequencies, combining worldwide (global) VLBI arrays of radio telescopes with a space-borne antenna on board a satellite. Aims. We present multiwavelength images made of the radio emission in the powerful quasar S5 0836+710, obtained using a global VLBI array and the antenna Spektr-R of the RadioAstron mission of the Russian Space Agency, with the goal of studying the internal structure and physics of the relativistic jet in this object. Methods. The RadioAstron observations at wavelengths of 18 cm, 6 cm, and 1.3 cm are part of the Key Science Program for imaging radio emission in strong AGN. The internal structure of the jet is studied by analyzing transverse intensity profiles and modeling the structural patterns developing in the flow. Results. The RadioAstron images reveal a wealth of structural detail in the jet of S5 0836+710 on angular scales ranging from 0.02 mas to 200 mas. Brightness temperatures in excess of 1013 K are measured in the jet, requiring Doppler factors of 100 for reconciling them with the inverse Compton limit. Several oscillatory patterns are identified in the ridge line of the jet and can be explained in terms of the Kelvin Helmholtz (KH) instability. The oscillatory patterns are interpreted as the surface and body wavelengths of the helical mode of the KH instability. The interpretation provides estimates of the jet Mach number and of the ratio of the jet to the ambient density, which are found to be Mj 12 and 0:33. The ratio of the jet to the ambient density should be conservatively considered an upper limit because its estimate relies on approximations. © L. Vega-García et al. 2020 ; L.V.G. is a member of the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Universities of Bonn and Cologne. The RadioAstron project is led by the Astro Space Center of the Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Lavochkin Scientific and Production Association under a contract with the State Space Corporation ROSCOSMOS, in collaboration with partner organizations in Russia and other countries. This research is based on observations correlated at the Bonn Correlator, jointly operated by the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR), and the Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (BKG). The European VLBI Network is a joint facility of European, Chinese, South African and other radio astronomy institutes funded by their national research councils. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. Thanks to Phillip Edwards and Alan Roy for the useful comments about the paper. M.P. has been supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (grants AYA2015-66899-C2-1-P and AYA2016-77237-C3-3-P) and the Generalitat Valenciana (grant PROMETEOII/2014/069). This work was partially supported by the COST Action MP0904 Black Holes in a Violent Universe. G.B. acknowledges financial support under the INTEGRAL ASI-INAF agreement 2013-025-R.1. T.S. was supported by the Academy of Finland projects 274477, 284495, and 312496. I.A. acknowledges support by a Ramon y Cajal grant of the Ministerio de Economia, Industria y Competitividad (MINECO) of Spain. The research at the IAA-CSIC was partly supported by the MINECO through grants AYA2016-80889-P, AYA2013-40825-P, and AYA2010-14844. Y.Y.K. was supported in part by the government of the Russian Federation (agreement 05.Y09.21.0018) and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. ; Peer reviewed