The radio structure of ultra-high-energy synchrotron peak BL Lacs

TL;DR

This study investigates the radio structures of ultra-high-energy synchrotron peak BL Lacs using VLBI observations, revealing core-jet features, high brightness temperatures, and weaker beaming effects compared to typical HBLs, suggesting they are less Doppler-boosted versions.

Contribution

First detailed VLBI analysis of UHBLs showing their core-jet structures and weaker beaming effects compared to HBLs, indicating they are less Doppler-boosted.

Findings

Core-jet structure detected in five sources.

High brightness temperatures imply beaming effects.

UHBLs are less compact and less Doppler-boosted than typical HBLs.

Abstract

We present the results of EVN and MERLIN 5 GHz observations of nine ultra-high-energy synchrotron peak BL Lacs (UHBLs) selected as all BL Lacs with \textbf{log ($\nu_{\rm peak}/ \rm Hz)>20$} from Nieppola et al.. The radio structure was investigated for these sources, in combination with the available VLBA archive data. We found that the core-jet structure is detected in five sources, while four sources only have a compact core on pc scale. The core of all sources shows high brightness temperature (with mean and median values \textbf{log ($T_{\rm b} / {\rm K}) \sim11$}, which implies that the beaming effect likely present in all sources. When the multi-epoch VLBI data are available, we found no significant variations either for core or total flux density in two sources (2E 0414+0057 and EXO 0706.1+5913), and no evident proper motion in 2E 0414+0057, while the superluminal motion is likely detected in EXO 0706.1+5913. Our sources are found to be less compact than the typical HBLs in Giroletti et al, by comparing the ratio of the VLBI total flux to the core flux at arcsec scale. Combining all our results, we propose that the beaming effect might be present in the jets of UHBLs, however, it is likely weaker than that of typical HBLs. Moreover, we found that UHBLs could be less Doppler beamed versions of HBLs with similar jet power, by comparing the distribution of redshift, and radio luminosities. The results are in good consistence with the expectations from our previous work.