A Compact Jet at the Infrared Heart of the Prototypical Low-Luminosity AGN in NGC 1052

Abstract

The feeble radiative efficiency characteristic of Low-Luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei (LLAGN) is ascribed to a sub-Eddington accretion rate, typically at $\log (L_{\mathrm{bol}}/L_{\mathrm{edd}})\lesssim -3$. At the finest angular resolutions that are attainable nowadays using mid-infrared (mid-IR) interferometry, the prototypical LLAGN in NGC 1052 remains unresolved down to $<5\mathrm{mas}$ ($0.5\mathrm{pc}$). This is in line with non-thermal emission from a compact jet, a scenario further supported by a number of evidences: the broken power-law shape of the continuum distribution in the radio-to-UV range; the $\sim 4\%$ degree of polarisation measured in the nuclear mid-IR continuum, together with the mild optical extinction ($A_V\sim 1\mathrm{mag}$); and the "harder when brighter" behaviour of the X-ray spectrum, indicative of self-Compton synchrotron radiation. A remarkable feature is the steepness of the IR-to-UV core continuum, characterised by a power-law index of $\sim 2.6$, as compared to the canonical value of $0.7$. Alternatively, to explain the interferometric data by thermal emission would require an exceptionally compact dust distribution when compared to those observed in nearby AGN, with $A_V\gtrsim 2.8\mathrm{mag}$ to account for the IR polarisation. This is in contrast with several observational evidences against a high extinction along the line of sight, including the detection of the nucleus in the UV range and the well defined shape of the power-law continuum. The case of NGC 1052 shows that compact jets can dominate the nuclear emission in LLAGN across the whole electromagnetic spectrum, a scenario that might be common among this class of active nuclei.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication by MNRAS

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