Probing the inner jet of M87; from the jet base to HST-1

¹ INAF Istituto di Radioastronomia, Via Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy
² National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo, 181-8588, Japan

^a e-mail: hada@ira.inaf.it

Published online: 9 December 2013

Abstract

The giant radio galaxy M87 accompanies one of the nearest Active-Galactic-Nuclei jets showing the intense radiation through radio to TeV gamma-ray. Its proximity and the large mass of the central black hole provide an excellent advantage to probe the sites of jet formation and gamma-ray production. Here we review some of our recent studies for the inner jet of M87 based on the multi-frequency and multi-epoch VLBI observations, especially focusing on the two remarkable regions i.e., the jet base near the black hole and the peculiar feature HST-1. Our multi-frequency observations with the phase-referencing technique revealed the detailed structure of the jet base region regarding the location of the central engine and the collimation profile. In terms of HST-1, the intense multi-epoch VLBI monitoring constrained the accurate kinematic properties and the structural variations in this complicated feature, together with a possible connection to the gamma-ray activities. At the end of this contribution, we briefly describe our new monitoring project for M87 with VERA, which permits a detailed study on the structural evolution in the jet base region.