Detection of a Parsec-Scale Jet in a Radio-Quiet Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxy with Highly Accreting Supermassive Black Hole

TL;DR

This study reports the first detection of a parsec-scale jet in a radio-quiet, highly accreting Seyfert galaxy, providing new insights into jet formation at high Eddington ratios.

Contribution

It presents the first VLBA detection of a parsec-scale jet in Mrk 335, a radio-quiet Seyfert galaxy with a high Eddington ratio, linking jet activity to extreme accretion states.

Findings

Detected a 20 parsec elongated radio structure in Mrk 335

Observed high brightness temperature indicating a jet origin

Compared jet properties with other high Eddington systems

Abstract

The jet in active galactic nuclei (AGN) is a key ingredient in understanding the co-evolution of galaxies and their central supermassive black holes (SMBHs). Unfortunately, the mechanism of jet launching and collimation is still elusive. The observational evidence of decreasing radio loudness with increasing Eddington ratio implies that the jet should be coupled with the accretion process. To further explore the relationship between the jet and accretion, it is necessary to extend our knowledge of the jet to an extreme end of the Eddington ratio distribution of AGN. Using Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), we report the detection of the parsec-scale radio structure in Mrk 335, a radio-quiet narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy with an Eddington ratio close to/above unity. The VLBA image at 1.5 GHz reveals an elongated structure extending $\sim20$ parsec in north-south direction with a peak flux density of $1.98\pm0.05$ mJy/beam and radio brightness temperatures as high as $6\times10^{7}$ K. This feature provides a strong evidence of a parsec-scale (bipolar) jet launched from a highly accreting SMBH. We discuss the result by comparing Mrk 335 with other highly accreting systems, e.g. Galactic black holes and tidal disruption events, and recall the discovery of collimated corona in the vicinity of SMBH in Mrk 335 by previous X-ray observations, whose relation to the parsec-scale radio jet should be explored by future simultaneous X-ray spectroscopy and high resolution radio observations.