We present the results of extensive multi-frequency monitoring of the radio galaxy 3C 111 between 2004 and 2010 at X-ray ( 2.4–10 keV ) , optical ( R band ) , and radio ( 14.5 , 37 , and 230 GHz ) wave bands , as well as multi-epoch imaging with the Very Long Baseline Array ( VLBA ) at 43 GHz .
Over the six years of observation , significant dips in the X-ray light curve are followed by ejections of bright superluminal knots in the VLBA images .
This shows a clear connection between the radiative state near the black hole , where the X-rays are produced , and events in the jet .
The X-ray continuum flux and Fe line intensity are strongly correlated , with a time lag shorter than 90 days and consistent with zero .
This implies that the Fe line is generated within 90 light-days of the source of the X-ray continuum .
The power spectral density function of X-ray variations contains a break , with steeper slope at shorter timescales .
The break timescale of 13 ^ { +12 } _ { -6 } days is commensurate with scaling according to the mass of the central black hole based on observations of Seyfert galaxies and black hole X-ray binaries ( BHXRBs ) .
The data are consistent with the standard paradigm , in which the X-rays are predominantly produced by inverse Compton scattering of thermal optical/UV seed photons from the accretion disk by a distribution of hot electrons — the corona — situated near the disk .
Most of the optical emission is generated in the accretion disk due to reprocessing of the X-ray emission .
The relationships that we have uncovered between the accretion disk and the jet in 3C 111 , as well as in the FR I radio galaxy 3C 120 in a previous paper , support the paradigm that active galactic nuclei and Galactic BHXRBs are fundamentally similar , with characteristic time and size scales proportional to the mass of the central black hole .