The Apparent "Angular Size - Frequency" Dependence in ~3000 Parsec-scale Extragalactic Jets

Abstract

The upper envelope of the amplitude of the VLBI visibility function usually represents the most compact structural pattern of extragalactic radio sources, in particular, the "core-jet" morphologies. By fitting the envelope to a circular Gaussian model in ~3000 parsec-scale core-jet structures, we find that the apparent angular size shows significant power-law dependence on the observing frequency (power index n = -0.95 pm 0.37). The dependence is likely to result from synchrotron self-absorption in the inhomogeneous jet and not the free-free absorption (n = -2.5), nor the simple scatter broadening (n leq -2).