Transverse Oscillations and Wave Propagation in the Magnetically Dominated M87 Jet
arXiv:2603.02660 · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ae355b
Abstract
We present an in-depth analysis of transverse oscillations in the M87 jet, as identified in our previous study (Ro et al. 2023a), which reported oscillatory patterns with a characteristic period of 1 year in the edge-brightened jet structure extending up to 12\,mas from the core. This work is based on high-cadence KaVA 22\,GHz observations conducted from December 2013 to June 2016. By analyzing the transverse velocity profiles and the spatial evolution of the oscillations, we find that the oscillations propagate downstream along the jet, with a wavelength of \,mas. A single-mode sinusoidal wave model applied to the ridge lines successfully reproduces the observed transverse oscillations and yields superluminal wave speeds of , consistent with the bulk jet velocity in this region. These findings suggest that the transverse oscillations may be interpreted either as transverse MHD waves -- possibly excited by jet precession, nutation, or quasi-periodic magnetic flux eruptions near the central engine -- or as manifestations of jet instabilities, such as current-driven instabilities (CDIs). Further investigation is required to distinguish between these scenarios and to clarify the dominant physical mechanism.
18 pages, 8 figures
References in corpus (68)
- Array Programming with NumPy
- emcee: The MCMC Hammer
- The Astropy Project: Building an inclusive, open-science project and status of the v2.0 core package
- First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. I. The Shadow of the Supermassive Black Hole
- Understanding the Lomb-Scargle Periodogram
- Efficient Generation of Jets from Magnetically Arrested Accretion on a Rapidly Spinning Black Hole
- General Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Magnetically Choked Accretion Flows around Black Holes
- Relativistic Jets in Active Galactic Nuclei
- Magnetically Arrested Disk: An Energetically Efficient Accretion Flow
- First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. VIII. Magnetic Field Structure near The Event Horizon
- The ACS Fornax Cluster Survey. V. Measurement and Recalibration of Surface Brightness Fluctuations and a Precise Value of the Fornax--Virgo Relative Distance
- First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. VII. Polarization of the Ring
- The Structure and Dynamics of the Sub-parsec Scale Jet in M87 Based on 50 VLBA Observations Over 17 Years at 43 GHz
- Data analysis recipes: Using Markov Chain Monte Carlo
- The Structure of the M87 Jet: A Transition from Parabolic to Conical Streamlines
- Black hole flares: ejection of accreted magnetic flux through 3D plasmoid-mediated reconnection
- Kinematics of the jet in M87 on scales of 100 -- 1000 Schwarzschild radii
- Interferometric Imaging Directly with Closure Phases and Closure Amplitudes
- The limb-brightened jet of M87 down to 7 Schwarzschild radii scale
- Parabolic Jets from the Spinning Black Hole in M87
- A ring-like accretion structure in M87 connecting its black hole and jet
- Innermost collimation structure of the M87 jet down to ~ten Schwarzschild radii
- 3D Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Magnetized Spine-Sheath Relativistic Jets
- Catching the Radio Flare in CTA 102 III. Core-Shift and Spectral Analysis
- Broadband Multi-wavelength Properties of M87 during the 2017 Event Horizon Telescope Campaign
- Precessing jet nozzle connecting to a spinning black hole in M87
- 3D Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Current-Driven Instability. I. Instability of a static column
- Faraday rotation in the jet of M87 inside the Bondi radius: indication of winds from hot accretion flows confining the relativistic jet
- First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. IX. Detection of Near-horizon Circular Polarization
- Stability Properties of Strongly Magnetized Spine Sheath Relativistic Jets
- Radio observations of active galactic nuclei with mm-VLBI
- Anatomy of helical relativistic jets: The case of S5 0836+710
- Spatial growth of current-driven instability in relativistic rotating jets and the search for magnetic reconnection
- Kinematics of the M87 jet in the collimation zone: gradual acceleration and velocity stratification
- Studies of the Jet in BL Lacertae I. Recollimation Shock and Moving Emission Features
- Magnetization degree at the jet base of M87 derived from the event horizon telescope data: Testing magnetically driven jet paradigm
- Linear stability analysis of magnetized relativistic jets: the nonrotating case
- Pilot KaVA monitoring on the M87 jet: confirming the inner jet structure and superluminal motions at sub-pc scales
- Spatial Growth of the Current-Driven Instability in Relativistic Jets
- Modeling the 3C 120 Radio Jet from 1 to 30 Milliarcseconds
- Reading M87's DNA: A Double Helix revealing a large scale Helical Magnetic Field
- Local Simulations of Instabilities in Relativistic Jets I: Morphology and Energetics of the Current-Driven Instability
- Three-Dimensional Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Current-Driven Instability with A Sub-Alfvenic Jet: Temporal Properties
- Filamentary structures as the origin of blazar jet radio variability
- Resolving the inner parsec of the blazar J1924-2914 with the Event Horizon Telescope
- Kink instability: evolution and energy dissipation in Relativistic Force-Free Non-Rotating Jets
- Studies of the Jet in BL Lacertae. II. Superluminal Alfvén Waves
- Particle acceleration in kink-unstable jets
- Using Twisted Filaments to Model the Inner Jet in M87
- VLBI observations of bright AGN jets with KVN and VERA Array (KaVA): Evaluation of Imaging Capability
- Properties of the jet in M87 revealed by its helical structure imaged with the VLBA at 8 and 15 GHz
- Precession-induced Variability in AGN Jets and OJ 287
- Linear stability analysis of magnetized relativistic rotating jets
- Linear stability analysis of magnetized jets: the rotating case
- The Event Horizon Telescope Image of the Quasar NRAO 530
- Spectral analysis of a parsec-scale jet in M87: Observational constraint on the magnetic field strengths in the jet
- M87: a cosmic laboratory for deciphering black hole accretion and jet formation
- Multiband RadioAstron space VLBI imaging of the jet in quasar S5 0836+710
- Discovery of Limb Brightening in the Parsec-scale Jet of NGC 315 through Global Very Long Baseline Interferometry Observations and Its Implications for Jet Models
- Jet stability, dynamics and energy transport
- Overview of the Observing System and Initial Scientific Accomplishments of the East Asian VLBI Network (EAVN)
- Kink Instability of Force-Free Jets: a Parameter Space Study
- Transverse Oscillations of the M87 Jet Revealed by KaVA Observations
- Misaligned magnetized accretion flows onto spinning black holes: Magneto-spin alignment, outflow power, and intermittent jets
- Bayesian self-calibration and imaging in Very Long Baseline Interferometry
- Linear and nonlinear evolution of current-carrying highly magnetized jets
- Evolution, speed, and precession of the parsec-scale jet in the 3C 84 radio galaxy
- Super-Resolved Image of M87 Observed with East Asian VLBI Network