The jet-disc connection: evidence for a reinterpretation in radio loud and radio quiet active galactic nuclei

TL;DR

This paper investigates the relationship between jets and accretion discs in active galactic nuclei, proposing a reinterpretation of the jet-disc connection based on diverse observational data across different AGN types.

Contribution

It offers a new perspective on the jet-disc connection, integrating recent findings and challenging traditional models of disc truncation in AGN.

Findings

Inverse relation between radio loudness and Eddington ratio explained by disc truncation.

FR I radio galaxies and narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies support a reinterpretation of jet-disc dynamics.

Powerful jets observed in certain AGN types suggest scale-invariant jet-disc mechanisms.

Abstract

To constrain models of the jet-disc connection, we explore Eddington ratios reported in Foschini (2011) and interpret them in relation to the values in Sikora et al. across the active galactic nuclei population from radio loud quasars, their flat spectrum radio quasar subclass, the recently discovered gamma-ray loud narrow-line type 1 Seyfert galaxies, Fanaroff-Riley type I (FRI) radio galaxies and radio quiet quasars of the Palomar Green survey. While appeal to disc truncation in radiatively inefficient flow appears to explain the observed inverse relation between radio loudness and Eddington ratio in radio loud and radio quiet quasars, FR I objects, scale invariance and recent data on powerful jets in narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies offer compelling arguments in favour of a reinterpretaion of the jet-disc connection.