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K.M. Blundell (Oxford University Astrophysics), A.J. Beasley (National Radio Astronomy Observatory)
The modest radio structures of 90 % of the quasar population (the radio-quiet quasars) can be contrasted with the expansive double-lobed structures powered by jets seen in the remaining ~ 10 %, the radio-loud quasars. This has led some to suggest that the radio emission in radio quiet-quasars has a fundamentally different origin. We present the first direct evidence for relativistic motion in a parsec-scale radio-quiet quasar jet, based on VLBA multi-epoch phase referenced observations of the quasar 1407+263. The three epochs observed to date show an increasing separation of the knots in the milliarcsecond jet of this object, which given its redshift, corresponds to apparent superluminal motion. This result strongly points towards a fundamental similarity in the jet-producing mechanisms of radio-quiet quasars and those in radio-loud quasars.