Radio Sources in Low-Luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei. II. VLBI Detections of Compact Radio Cores and Jets in a Sample of LINERs

Abstract

We have used the VLBA at 5 GHz to observe all galaxies with nuclear radio flux densities above 3.5 mJy found in a VLA survey at 15 GHz of a sample of nearby LINER galaxies. All galaxies were detected revealing high brightness temperature ($T_{b} \ga 10^8$ K) radio sources. Free-free emission is unlikely since it greatly overpredicts the soft X-ray luminosities. We infer the presence of AGN-like, non-thermal radio emission most likely powered by under-fed black holes. Together with our VLA sample we estimate from our observations that at least half of LINER galaxies host genuine AGN. We find no evidence for highly inverted radio cores as predicted in the ADAF model: the (non-simultaneous) spectral indices are on average around $α=0.0$. In the two brightest sources we detect some extended emission, which appears to originate in jets in at least one of these galaxies. Together with the spectral indices this suggests that the nuclear emission at centimeter radio waves is largely dominated by emission from radio jets, very similar to the situation in more luminous AGN. The energy released in these jets could be a significant fraction of the energy budget in the accretion flow.