Acceleration of Relativstic Jets on Sub-parsec Scales

Jets of compact radio sources are highly relativistic and Doppler boosted, making studies of their intrinsic properties difficult. Observed brightness temperatures can be used to study the intrinsic physical properties of the relativistic jets. The intrinsic properties of relativistic jets depend on inner jet models. We aimed to observationally test the inner jet models. The very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) cores of compact radio sources are optically thick at a given frequency. The distance of the core from the central engine is inversely proportional to the frequency. Under the equipartition condition between the magnetic field energy and particle energy densities, the absolute distance of the VLBI core can be predicted. We compiled the brightness temperatures of VLBI cores at various radio frequencies of 2, 8, 15, and 86~GHz. The brightness temperatures in the rest frame were investigated in the sub-parsec regions of the compact radio sources. From the vicinity of the central engine, the brightness temperatures increased slowly and then rose with steeper slope, indicating that the Lorentz factor increases along the jet. This implies that the jets are accelerated in the (sub-)parsec regions from the central engine.