Probing the innermost regions of AGN jets and their magnetic fields with RadioAstron. V. Space and ground millimeter-VLBI imaging of OJ 287

TL;DR

This study uses space and ground millimeter-VLBI imaging to achieve unprecedented resolution of the innermost regions of the AGN jet in OJ 287, revealing magnetic field structures and jet bending consistent with a supermassive binary black hole model.

Contribution

First polarimetric space VLBI observations of OJ 287 at 22 GHz, achieving record angular resolution and providing new insights into jet magnetic fields and structure.

Findings

Achieved highest-ever 22 GHz resolution for OJ 287 at 50 microarcseconds.

Detected jet bending consistent with a supermassive binary black hole model.

Found evidence of a helical magnetic field in the VLBI core.

Abstract

We present the first polarimetric space VLBI observations of OJ 287, observed with RadioAstron at 22 GHz during a perigee session on 2014 April 4 and five near-in-time snapshots, together with contemporaneous ground VLBI observations at 15, 43, and 86 GHz. Ground-space fringes were obtained up to a projected baseline of 3.9 Earth diameters during the perigee session, and at a record 15.1 Earth diameters during the snapshot sessions, allowing us to image the innermost jet at an angular resolution of $\sim50\mu$as, the highest ever achieved at 22 GHz for OJ 287. Comparison with ground-based VLBI observations reveals a progressive jet bending with increasing angular resolution that agrees with predictions from a supermassive binary black hole model, although other models cannot be ruled out. Spectral analyses suggest that the VLBI core is dominated by the internal energy of the emitting particles during the onset of a multi-wavelength flare, while the parsec-scale jet is consistent with being in equipartition between the particles and magnetic field. Estimated minimum brightness temperatures from the visibility amplitudes show a continued rising trend with projected baseline length up to $10^{13}$ K, reconciled with the inverse Compton limit through Doppler boosting for a jet closely oriented to the line of sight. The observed electric vector position angle suggests that the innermost jet has a predominantly toroidal magnetic field, which together with marginal evidence of a gradient in rotation measure across the jet width indicate that the VLBI core is threaded by a helical magnetic field, in agreement with jet formation models.