Related papers: The central parsecs of M87: jet emission and an el…
The physics of active super massive black holes (BHs) is governed by their mass (M_BH), spin (a*) and accretion rate ($\dot{M}$). This work is the first in a series of papers with the aim of testing how these parameters determine the…
M87 is a nearby radio galaxy that has been detected at energies ranging from radio to very high energy (VHE) gamma-rays. Its proximity and its jet, misaligned from the line of sight allow detailed morphological studies. The imaging…
It is believed that most giant elliptical galaxies possess nuclear black holes with masses in excess of $10^8\Msun$. Bondi accretion from the interstellar medium might then be expected to produce quasar-like luminosities from the nuclei of…
One of the most intriguing open questions of today's astrophysics is the one concerning the location and the mechanisms for the production of MeV, GeV, and TeV gamma-rays in AGN jets. M87 is a privileged laboratory for a detailed study of…
An important parameter in the theory of hot accretion flows around black holes is $\delta$, which describes the fraction of ``viscously'' dissipated energy in the accretion flow that goes directly into heating electrons. For a given mass…
We estimate the masses of massive black holes in BL Lac objects from their host galaxy luminosity. The power of jets and central optical ionizing luminosity for a sample of BL Lac objects are derived from their extended radio emission and…
We study a sample of 44 low-luminosity radio-loud AGN, which represent a range of nuclear radio-power spanning 5 orders of magnitude, to unveil the accretion mechanism in these galaxies. We estimate the accretion rate of gas associated with…
The nucleus of M87 displays a LINER spectrum at optical wavelengths, with a nuclear disk of nebulosity that is resolved by the Hubble Space Telescope. We present new results from optical and ultraviolet spectra of the central ~40pc as…
The velocity field of the M87 jet from milli-arcsecond (mas) to arcsecond scales is extensively investigated together with new radio images taken by EVN observations. We detected proper motions of components located at between 160 mas from…
M87 has been recently shown to be a TeV source which is likely to be variable. Based on this, and on contemporaneous optical and X-ray monitoring, we argue that the source of the TeV emission is the core of M87 and not one of two jet knots…
We present a simple physical model of the central source emission in the M87 galaxy. It is well known that the observed X-ray luminosity from this galactic nucleus is much lower than the predicted one, if a standard radiative efficiency is…
The nuclear radio emission of low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (LLAGN) is often associated with unresolved cores. In this paper we show that most LLAGN present extended jet radio emission when observed with sufficient angular…
We continue our study of the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of 11 AGN at 1.5 < z < 2.2, with optical-NIR spectra, X-ray data and mid-IR photometry. In a previous paper we presented the observations and models; in this paper we explore…
The interpretation of the X-ray spectra of X-ray binaries during their hard states requires a hot, optically thin medium. There are several accretion disc models in the literature that account for this aspect. However, none is designed to…
M87 is one of the nearest radio galaxies with a prominent jet extending from sub-pc to kpc-scales. Because of its proximity and large mass of the central black hole, it is one of the best radio sources to study jet formation. We aim at…
Accretion disk winds are commonly observed in active galactic nuclei (AGN). The winds may be associated with the changing spectral properties of such sources, yet such connections have not been studied in detail so far. This paper presents…
A new interpretation of the optical knot in the jet of M87, HST-1, is presented. High sensitivity 22 GHz Very Large Array images locate HST-1 to within 6 mas of the jet axis immediately upstream. 1.7 GHz Very Long Baseline Array images of a…
The predicted radio flux for nearby ellipticals by the canonical ADAF(advection-dominated accretion flow) model is well above the observations. If the mass accretion rate favored by the numerical simulation were adopted, the ADAF model…
The supermassive black hole candidate at the center of M87 drives an ultra-relativistic jet visible on kiloparsec scales, and its large mass and relative proximity allow for event horizon scale imaging with very long baseline interferometry…
Now that the mass of the central black hole in the galaxy M87 has been measured with great precision using different methods, the remaining parameter of the Kerr metric that needs to be estimated is the spin a*. We have modeled measurements…