Location of the Gamma-Ray Flaring Emission in the Parse-Scale Jet of the BL Lac Object AO 0235+164

TL;DR

This study locates gamma-ray and lower frequency emission in the parse-scale jet of BL Lac object AO 0235+164, linking multi-spectral flares and polarization events to jet dynamics at over 12 parsecs from the core.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed localization of gamma-ray emission in the extended jet of AO 0235+164 using multi-wavelength and high-resolution imaging, revealing the connection between jet features and flaring activity.

Findings

Gamma-ray flares are associated with superluminal jet features.

Multi-spectral flares coincide with polarization peaks.

Emission region is located >12 parsecs from the central engine.

Abstract

We locate the gamma-ray and lower frequency emission in flares of the BL Lac object AO 0235+164 at >12pc in the jet of the source from the central engine. We employ time-dependent multi-spectral-range flux and linear polarization monitoring observations, as well as ultra-high resolution (~0.15 milliarcsecond) imaging of the jet structure at lambda=7mm. The time coincidence in the end of 2008 of the propagation of the brightest superluminal feature detected in AO 0235+164 (Qs) with an extreme multi-spectral-range (gamma-ray to radio) outburst, and an extremely high optical and 7mm (for Qs) polarization degree provides strong evidence supporting that all these events are related. This is confirmed at high significance by probability arguments and Monte-Carlo simulations. These simulations show the unambiguous correlation of the gamma-ray flaring state in the end of 2008 with those in the optical, millimeter, and radio regime, as well as the connection of a prominent X-ray flare in October 2008, and of a series of optical linear polarization peaks, with the set of events in the end of 2008. The observations are interpreted as the propagation of an extended moving perturbation through a re-collimation structure at the end of the jet's acceleration and collimation zone.