Collimated Bipolar Outflow and the Formation of Nuclear Spirals; Possible Role of Magnetic Fields

Extract

The existence of non–steady phenomena, namely activity in the form of radial motions (outflow) of matter from the nuclei of galaxies is well established at present. Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) constitute a topic of great interest and are intensively studied by all existing observational techniques. Conventionally objects classified as AGN span a range from quasars, radio galaxies to Seyferts 1 and 2. It appears, however, that there exist galaxies which exhibit somewhat milder activity which does not qualify their inclusion in the AGN group. The designation of MAGN (M for mildly) was suggested in the past (Pismis, 1986) to cover the less energetic nuclei. It may be reasonable to consider that active nuclei form a sequence, the difference along it being due to the energetics of the nuclei, from the most active quasars and radio galaxies down to the mildest ones like M31 or our Galaxy. The phenomenon underlying the activity may thus be universal, subject to the intrinsic energetics of the nuclei (Pismis, 1987).