Compact jets dominate the continuum emission in low-luminosity active galactic nuclei

TL;DR

This study shows that in low-luminosity active galactic nuclei, the nuclear continuum emission is primarily dominated by compact jets with thermalized particles, revealing new insights into their spectral properties and feedback mechanisms.

Contribution

It provides observational evidence that LLAGN are dominated by compact jets with thermalized particles, challenging previous assumptions about their emission mechanisms.

Findings

LLAGN spectra are consistent with pure compact jet emission over ten orders of magnitude in frequency.

They exhibit steep IR-to-UV spectral slopes and high turnover frequencies, indicating thermalized particle dominance.

Nebular gas excitation aligns with photo-ionization from inverse Compton radiation, supporting jet dominance.

Abstract

The disappearance of the accretion disc in low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (LLAGN) leaves behind a faint optical nuclear continuum whose nature has been largely debated, mainly due to serious observational limitations in the IR to UV range. We combine multi-wavelength sub-arcsecond resolution observations -- able to isolate the genuine nuclear continuum -- with nebular lines in the mid-IR, to indirectly probe the shape of the extreme UV continuum. We found that 8 of the nearest prototype LLAGN are compatible with pure compact jet emission (self-absorbed synchrotron plus the associated self-Compton component) over more than ten orders of magnitude in frequency. When compared with typical radio galaxies, the LLAGN continua show two peculiarities: $i)$ a very steep spectral slope in the IR-to-optical/UV range ($-3.7 < \alpha_0 < -1.3$; $F_\nu \propto \nu^{\alpha_0}$); and $ii)$ a very high turnover frequency ($0.2-30\, \rm{THz}$; $1.3\,\rm{mm}-10\,\rm{\mu m}$). These attributes can be explained if the synchrotron continuum is mainly dominated by thermalised particles at the jet base or corona with considerably high temperatures, whereas only a small fraction of the energy ($\sim 20\%$) would be distributed along the high-energy power-law tail of accelerated particles. On the other hand, the nebular gas excitation in LLAGN is in agreement with photo-ionisation from inverse Compton radiation ($\alpha_{\rm x} \sim -0.7$), which would dominate the nuclear continuum shortwards of $\sim 3000$ \r{A}. Our results suggest that the LLAGN continuum can be dominated at all wavelengths by undeveloped jets, powered by a thermalised particle distribution, similar to the behaviour observed in compact jets of quiescent black hole X-ray binaries. This has important implications in the context of galaxy evolution, since LLAGN may represent a major but underestimated source of kinetic feedback in galaxies.