Superluminal Motion and Polarization in Blazars

A relativistic beaming model has been successfully used to explain the observed properties of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). In this model there are two emission components, a boosted one and an unbeamed one, shown up in the radio band as the core and lobe components. The luminosity ratio of the core to the lobe is defined as the core-dominance parameter (R = (LCore/LLobe)). The de-beamed radio luminosity (Ljetdb) in the jet is assumed to be proportional to the unbeamed luminosity (Lub) in the co-moving frame, i.e., f = (Ljetdb/Lub), and f is determined in our previous paper. We further discuss the relationship between BL Lacertae objects (BLs) and flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs), which are subclasses of blazars with different degrees of polarization, using the calculated values of the ratio f for a sample of superluminal blazars. We found 1) that the BLs show smaller averaged Doppler factors and Lorentz factors, larger viewing angles and higher core-dominance parameters than do the FSRQs, and 2) that in the polarization-core dominance parameter plot (P-log R) the BLs and FSRQs occupy a scattered region, but in a revised plot (log (P/c(m)) ? log R), they gather around two different lines, suggesting that they have some different intrinsic properties.

Relativity and impossibility of superluminal motion

I prove that not only particle motion but also wave propagation cannot be faster than light according to relativity.

A Tentative Observation Design for Investigating the Morphology of Dark Matter in the Universe

Unlike the luminous objects observed, dark matter does not emit light but can be only detected by its gravitational effect. Modern cosmology considers that most matter in Universe is dark matter. However, it is still not clear what the dark matter was. Two origins have been proposed by astrophysicists, astrophysics candidates and particle physics candidates. The most differences are their morphology, the former are compact objects and the latter are dispersed. Under Einstein’s theory of general relativity, light bends as it passes near a compact object, creating a convergence effect like a lens. When background light source, intervening lense and the observer lie on a straight line, the brightness of the background source will be significantly magnified. In astrophysics, this effect is called microlensing. If compact dark matter is abundant in the universe, it is possible to frequently observe “microlensing” events when observing high redshift objects, i.e. the objects temporarily brighten for a certain time. The microlensing technique has been applied to study the dark matter in halo of Milky Way. The difficulty occurs when applying to study the cosmic dark matter as the crossing time of cosmic microlensing events is too long for observations. Apparent superluminal jets in bright quasars are idea background objects, significantly enhancing the efficiency of cosmic microlensing survey. Here, we tentatively designed an observational experiment to study the morphology of dark matter in Universe via statistics of microlensing events towards luminous quasars with apparent superluminal jets.