Resolving the radio loud/radio quiet dichotomy without thick disks

TL;DR

This paper challenges the traditional view that thick disks are necessary for jet formation in active galaxies, providing observational evidence that jets can exist with thin disks, thus redefining the radio loud/radio quiet dichotomy.

Contribution

It presents observational evidence that jets can form in thin disks, contradicting the longstanding belief that thick disks are essential for jet collimation and acceleration.

Findings

Inverse correlation between ionized winds and radio loudness in thin disk regimes.

Jets may be supported by radiatively efficient thin disks, not just thick disks.

Challenges existing models linking thick disks exclusively to jet formation.

Abstract

Observations of radio loud active galaxies in the XMM-Newton archive by Mehdipour & Costantini show a strong anti-correlation between the column density of the ionized wind and the radio loudness parameter, providing evidence that jets may thrive in thin disks. This is in contrast with decades of analytic and numerical work suggesting jet formation is contingent on the presence of an inner, geometrically thick disk structure, which serves to both collimate and accelerate the jet. Thick disks emerge in radiatively inefficient disks which are associated with sub-Eddington as well as super-Eddington accretion regimes yet we show that the inverse correlation between winds and jets survives where it should not, namely in a luminosity regime normally attributed to radio quiet active galaxies which are modeled with thin disks. This along with other lines of evidence argues against thick disks as the foundation behind the radio loud/radio quiet dichotomy, opening up the possibility that jetted versus non jetted black holes may be understood within the context of radiatively efficient thin disk accretion.